Wpdittt College
Toronto
Shelf No.
3 B
Registcr No
DIKECTORIU1 PASTORALE.
Give me the priest these graces shall possess :
Of an ambassador the first address,
A father s tenderness, a shepherd s care,
A leader s courage, which the cross can bear ;
A ruler s awe, a watchman s wakeful eye ;
A pilot s skill, the helm in storms to ply ;
A fisher s patience, and a labourer s toil ;
A guide s dexterity, to disembroil ;
A prophet s inspiration from above,
A teacher s knowledge, and a Saviour s love.
KISITOP KEN.
DIRECTORIM PASTORALE,
PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE
PASTOEAL WORK IN THE CHUECH OF
ENGLAND.
REV. JOHN HENBY BLUNT.
o n p o
Work your work b etimes, and in His time He will give you your reward."
ECCLUS. li, 30.
RIVINGTONS, WATERLOO PLACE;
HIGH STREET, | TRINITY STREET,
rfortr.
1864.
BV
1 And he said unto Him, If Thy presence go not with me, carry us not up
hence." Exod. xxxiii. 15.
PREFACE.
WHETHER we look at the social or the spiritual aspect of
the relations between the clergy of the Church of England
and the people committed to their charge, the importance
of the Pastoral Office to English society and English reli
gion can hardly be over-estimated. During the last gene
ration, and so much of the present as has already passed,
there has been a very rapid development of new phases of
social life ; education has extended greatly among the
middle and lower classes ; the power of thinking, and of
expressing their thoughts, has become a possession of the
many and not of the few ; personal piety is much more
respected than it has been for many generations ; and,
lastly, a conscious and willing assent to the principles and
system of the Church of England is to be observed among
a larger proportion of the population than, perhaps, at any
time since the Reformation, or at least since the suppression
and persecution of the Church in the seventeenth century.
All these things work together to make the position of
the clergy one of importance to the age ; and all make it
necessary that they should be men of the age if they are to
VI PREFACE.
maintain their place, as they ought, at the head of the
forward march of society. The old ideal of a clergymnn
as " a gentleman and a scholar " is not one that we can
afford to despise, whatever other qualifications may be
thought desirable to fill out a proper ideal. Nor ought
we to slight the popular newspaper notion that the office
of the Clergy is " generally to leaven the people, and give
a good tone to society." There are, indeed, far higher
objects than these before the eyes of Christ s ministers ;
but these are yet the tithe of mint, anise, and cummin,
which we must not neglect to pay, though more exalted
duties than the rendering of such small tithe may be
imposed upon us.
It seems to me that there are four principal particulars
to which the attention of all who love the Church of
England, whether clergy or laity, should be earnestly
directed at once, if the age is to be moulded by it as there
seems good hope that it may be.
1. The clergy ought to be maintained still in that high
social position which they have hitherto occupied, re
membering that while none but " gentlemen " in habit
and feeling can ever be acceptable to the higher, the pro
fessional, and the best of the mercantile classes ; so also, a
man of refined taste and good social position carries far
more influence for good with the lower classes than one
destitute of those qualifications, if the energy and ability
of the two are equal.
2. The general knowledge of the clergy ought to keep
pace with the age, so that there may be many points of
sympathy, even on secular matters, between them and
PREFACE. Vll
their flocks. He who spoke to shepherds and fishermen as
one familiar with their callings would not have shrunk
from using the knowledge peculiar to a mechanical, com
mercial, scientific, and artistic age, for the purposes of the
Kingdom of Heaven. In our own day few things more
alienate a clergyman from those who are full of their
present time and work, than a sympathy which confines
itself to Mediaeval times, and is a great laudator temporis
acti, but can find little or nothing to rest on in the nine
teenth century, of which the present generation is, and
most justly, so proud.
3. The spiritual life of the clergy requires to be deve
loped more and more as religion makes progress in society.
Openly wicked clergymen are happily become rare amongst
us, may they become more rare still! but care is re
quired lest we should fall into an unspirituality of life in
endeavouring to keep pace with an age of bustle and real
business. Though there is an increasing reverence for the
office of the clergyman, and an increasing belief in the
doctrine of the Twenty-sixth Article of Religion, personal
sanctity in the clergy is becoming more necessary to their
real influence for good, in proportion to this respect for
their office.
4. Clergymen should strive to be " workmen that need
not to be ashamed " through want of practical acquaintance
with their duties. In every profession and occupation a
more strict technical knowledge is required than in the
last age ; and the ambassadors of Christ must not be
behindhand in their persevering endeavours to become
expert in their calling.
Vlll PREFACE.
The volume now published is intended as a humble
contribution towards promoting such an efficiency in the
work of the clergy as has been here indicated. It is the
result of varied experience, much observation in different
parts of England, and a careful reading of most of the
works that are extant on the pastoral office ; and it is sent
into the world with an earnest prayer that it may have
God s blessing for the furtherance of His glory and for
the good of His people in the fold of our beloved Church .
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE.
PAGE
Principles on the subject to be sought in Church of England formu
laries. Evidence of those principles as to necessary qualifications,
independent of, and conferred by, Ordination. Separation of
pastors as a K\rjpos of the Lord, from the Aabs of the Lord. Gift
of the Spirit to pastors. Committal to them of the care of souls.
Relation of pastors to God and man. Example offered them by
the Good Shepherd Himself. The advantages and discourage
ments of the pastoral office in the present day .... 1
CHAPTER II.
THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD.
Analogy between the gift of the Spirit for pastoral purposes, and the
gift of life for physical purposes. Delegation of authority and
capacity by God in both cases. Ministerial authority and minis
terial capacity. Illustration of their exercise. Prudence sug
gested in teaching about pastoral office ; especially to young men,
and those who do not illustrate principles by practice. Official
duties flowing from the relation of the pastor to God ; exactness
in ministrations; accuracy and balance in teaching; persevering
diligence in official prayers ; the place of such prayers in pastoral
work ; necessity of diligent study arising from the same relation ;
and of personal holiness ........ 28
X CONTENTS.
CHAPTER III.
THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK.
p
Foundation of it to be laid in the co-operation of God with pastoral
work. Spiritual and temporal laws of the relation. The parochial
system. Endowments an accident of pastoral relation to flock,
but yet a quid pro quo. The clergyman s bearing towards his
people. Sympathy, approachableness, readiness, condescension
to infirmities. Law s picture of a holy pastor. Social intercourse
between pastor and flock, its necessity and its safeguards.
Poverty of some clergy. Temptations to partiality for persons
and classes. Necessity of gaining men over to religion. Follow -
ings to be avoided and discouraged. Importance of town popu
lations. Systematic habits of visitation desirable, and also of
teaching. Over -work .........
CHAPTER IV.
THE MINISTRY OF GOD s WORD.
Extreme party opinions about Preaching. Its place in the system of
the Church of England shows its great importance; and is justi
fied by Holy Scripture. The object of preaching is to draw souls
nearer to God. This to be done by exposition of Scripture ; by
instruction in doctrine, especially concerning our blessed Lord;
by setting forth the Christian moral law ; by exhortation and
consolation. Objections to borrowed sermons; which are ex
ceptionally allowable only hi two cases. Original composition,
from study of books, intellectual meditation on Holy Scripture,
and study of human nature. Systematic plans of sermon subjects
to be established. Xote on antiquarian styles of preaching.
Plain preaching does not involve bud taste, but good vernacular
language and plain simple thoughts. Extempore preaching, its
disuse and revival ; the most natural and effective mode of preach-
CONTENTS. XI
PAGE
ing ; the way to practise it ; its advantages to pastor and people.
Necessity of dependence on the grace of God for the ministry of
His Word . 99
CHAPTER Y.
THE MINISTRY OF THE SACRAMENTS.
Baptism and the Holy Communion are essential parts of the pastoral
system. Means, not sources of grace. Necessity for exactness in
their administration. Advantages of Public Baptism. Kules re
specting Private Baptism. The pastor s duty with reference to
Baptisms by Dissenters. Baptism in its practical relation to
pastoral work. Confirmation a link between Baptism and the
Holy Communion. Reformation law and practice compared with
modern practice. Relation of catechizing to Confirmation. Defi
nite preparation of candidates. The confirmed and the Holy
Communion. Much detail about the doctrine of the Holy Com
munion not advisable here. Its place in the pastoral system, as
an avdfj.vr]ffis, and as a means of grace. Frequent communion
valuable in both ways for pastoral work, both to pastor and
people ............
CHAPTER VI.
THE VISITATION OF THE SICK.
I ractice of modern Church higher than that of former times. Its
importance. Who are to be considered as the sick. How to visit
aged, infirm, and invalid persons profitably. Cases of temporary
sickness. The pastor s duties towards persons in a state of mortal
sickness ; prolonged or sudden. Visitation service, when and how
applicable. Death-beds of religious Dissenters. Death-beds of
irreligious persons. Some general rules about visiting the sick.
Suggestion for u Visiting Manual. Private Communion. The
pastor s duty in cases of infectious disease. Rules by which in
fection may be avoided ........
Xll CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VII.
PASTORAL CONVERSE.
PAGE
Its necessity generally recognized. Some mechanical aids towards
acquaintance with parishioners. Value of intercourse with them.
Opportunities of gaining it. The Church theory of pastoral dis
cipline. The pastor s practical interpretation of such theory in
dealing with various classes of persons ; wicked livers ; Dissenters ;
modern sceptics. Endeavours to win over from error to truth,
by the setting forth of Christ. Discovering and using the good
that may he mingled with the error. Dealing with young men,
and " modern thought." Confidence in truth .... 224
CHAPTER VIII.
PASTORAL GUIDANCE.
Necessity of detailed instruction and guidance. Most effectually given
in the parsonage study or parish room. Classes valuable for
bringing parishioners there; and for driving instruction home.
Guidance needed in the details of Christian morals. Use of
casuistry to that end. Confession cannot be overlooked. Has
always been used in some form or other. Church of England
principles on the subject. The pastor s duty deduced from those
principles. The limitations indicated by them. The dangers at
tending confession. Eeticence in all confidential intercourse be
tween the pastor and his flock 247
CHAPTER IX.
SCHOOLS.
Children part of the pastor s cure of souls. Clergymen considered as
the educational agents of society. Nature of pastoral duty towards
education, in private, endowed, and poor schools. The parish
school, and the clergyman s relation to it. Necessity of religious
CONTENTS. Xlll
PAGE
education in parish schools not now contested. School system to
be worked in with Church system. Definite objects to be set
before us in religious instruction. Co-operation of clergyman and
school-teacher in giving it. Certain rules to be observed in
giving it. Value of learning Holy Scripture by rote. Social
character of a class formed in the schools of the poor. Co-opera
tion of parents to be sought. Infant schools. Evening schools.
Sunday schools. A form of school prayers ..... 271
CHAPTEE X.
PAROCHIAL LAY CO-OPERATION.
Combination of clergy and laity necessary for perfection of pastoral
work. The churchwarden s office. Laymen s work in gathering
funds for Church purposes in their parish ; in managing them ;
in distributing alms to the poor. Unpaid Scripture Readers, and
the missionary utility of educated men. Church singers. Even
ing schools, and lectures. Women and their work; valuable
character of the latter in a parish. Cautions and safeguards re
specting it. Lady-teachers in schools. District visiting; who
qualified ; the necessity of clerical supervision ; unity of plan ;
devotional character in the work. Organization of the laity for
Church work . 307
CHAPTEE XI.
AUXILIARY PAROCHIAL INSTITUTIONS.
Necessary to supplement the parochial system ; with means for pro
moting provident habits ; for offering wholesome recreation and
improvement to working men ; for securing personal interest in
the work of the Church. "Penny" banks, their great value.
Plan of a combined bank, clothing, and coal club. Associations of
working men a guide to what the Church should provide. The
Hagley Village Club. A Church Institute and its rules. The
Working Men s Club. The Oxford Churchmen s Union. Re
ligious Societies. The Bangor Lay Association .... 338
XIV CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XII.
PARISH FESTIVALS.
TAGE
Becoming a part of the parochial system. Towns better provided for
than country by wholesome established places of recreation.
Village feasts; their evils; the remedy for those evils. Harvest
homes. School-treats and tea-drinkings. Estimate for enter-
taming 200 children. Various useful provisions for such occa
sions 360
CHAPTER XIII.
MISCELLANEOUS RESPONSIBILITIES.
General care of the Church. Church Restoration, its principles and
practice : naves for congregations ; chancels for performance of
Divine service ; decorations. Organs. Belfries, bell-ringers, and
bells ; law respecting them ; ringing and chiming ; Mr. Ella-
combe s apparatus for chiming. Care of churchyards. Sanitary
suggestions. Money for Church purposes 372
APPENDIX.
A. Assistant Curates ......... 403
B. Bells, &c. . . 406
C. The Influence of Ignorance on Christian Life . . . . ib.
1). Rules of the Oxftml Churchmen s Union ; and of the Bangor
Church Lay Association 410
E. Town Reading-room and Library ... . 419
F. Plan for forming and carrying on a Village Lending Library . 421
(ir. Harvest Home Pastoral Letter 422
H. Belfry Rules ...... ... 426
I. Prayers for a Choir ......... 428
INDEX . 431
ERRATA.
P. 60, line 15, for " rule " read " habit."
P. 113, line 6 from the bottom, insert " the same" before " yesterday. "
P. 197, line 8 from the bottom, for " position " read " portion."
7
CHAPTER I.
THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE.
To carry out effectively the duties which belong to the
office of a Parochial Clergyman, the person occupying
that position ought to have a definite knowledge of
the real spiritual obligation which rests upon him with
reference to the people committed to his charge : and
of the actual relations between him and them, which
the Church, by whom he has been sent among them,
supposes to exist.
Such a knowledge will be acquired best, and
most safely, by taking as a starting-point England
those formal documents of the Church of Pciples to
be sought for
England in which there is direct or indirect n the sub-
reference to the work in question : for although
the varying requirements of different ages may neces
sitate a change in the details of a clergyman s work,
the original principles on which the ministry of the
Church of England is founded remain the same in one
century as they were in another, so long as those
authoritative documents remain unaltered. The sub
stantial character of the office is fixed by this funda-
THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE.
mental outline; and a loyal adherence to it will be
rewarded by the attainment of solidity and strength in all
who follow out its leading plan.
Such an examination of the various documents which
form the standard of Church of England principles and
devotion, will show that there are certain quali-
Qualmca-
tions iioecs- fications required of her clergy which precede,
arc indc- an( l are independent of their ordination, but
which ai> 6 considered of the highest importance
in those who have to undertake the clerical
Others con- office : that there are others which are conferred
ordination. ^y ordination : and that the ordained persons
who constitute the ministry of the Church stand
in a special relation towards God and men. A right
understanding and appreciation of these three points is
so essential to a proper conception of the pastoral office,
that it will be well at the outset to set them forth in
some detail.
. Qualifications independent of Ordination.
The mere legal requirements of the Church
Mature age.
of England place the age of those who are to
enter upon the care of souls at a higher standard than that
at which men may begin the practice of other professions.
At twenty-one a man may be placed in the important
position of a legislator in the House of Lords, or the
House of Commons, may occupy still more important
official posts in the State, may follow the profession
of the law, or that of medicine : but he cannot become
a clergyman at all before the age of twenty-three, nor
THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. O
be put in charge of souls as pastor of a parish before
that of twenty- four. Thus it is required that ab initio
the Church of England pastor be a man whose character
and judgment are in some degree formed ; and in practice
the theory is so far extended that very few clergymen
are actually put in charge of souls until they have served
an apprenticeship of several years in the subordinate
and comparatively irresponsible position of curates.
In addition to this it is required that all
so sent to take part in the ministerial work ^g r eha "
of the Church, shall be men of whom responsi
ble acquaintances can give a good account as to their
previous lives, the standard of a comparatively mature
age not being considered sufficient. And if this require
ment is honestly carried out by all concerned, no one
can take charge of souls of whom it cannot be testified
positively in very solemn terms by three clergymen,
and negatively by the assent of the congregation to the
"Si quis," that for four years previously (one during
which he has been in Deacon s orders, and three before)
he has lived piously, soberly, and honestly; has not
held, written, or taught any thing contrary to the doctrine
or discipline of the Church in which he is to minister ;
and is considered to be, as to his moral conduct, a
person worthy to be ordained to so important an office.
It is also required, further, that the general
education of the clergyman shaU be of the d educa
highest order : of the same kind, in fact, which
those go through, who are destined to undertake the
duties of what are often called the " governing classes "
B 2
4 THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE.
of the country. And it may be stated as a fact that
this law is so far carried out, that there is a larger pro
portion of thoroughly educated men among the clergy,
than in the ranks of any other profession.
The definite rule of the Church with respect to this
general education of the clergy is contained in the
Preface to the Ordination Service, in which it is directed
that the Bishop shall only proceed to ordain candidates
after he has proved by examination and trial, that they
are "learned in the Latin tongue." This really pre
supposes such good classical training as is gained at
College: and it is so interpreted, that if any of the
candidates for the ministry have not taken degrees at
an University, the same standard of knowledge is required
of them as if they had, before they can be enlisted in
the ranks of the clergy.
A further gradation of knowledge, that of
education* *ke special subjects connected with their pro
fession, is also indicated as necessary by the
rule that they shall be "sufficiently instructed in the
Holy Scriptures." The theology of the Scriptures is
to be the life-long study of the pastor ; but he must be
able to show at the outset of his course, that he has
acquired some firm foundation of such knowledge from the
theological lectures of the University, or by means of an
additional year of divinity education, and training, spent
at a Theological College.
Antecedently then to any thing conferred by ordination,
and therefore independently of the rite, the clergy of the
Church of England are required to be men of mature age,
THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE.
of character which will bear a searching investigation, of
superior general acquirements, and of some special know
ledge of their profession l . And at the very verge of
ordination they are made to pledge themselves anew that
they will be strictly loyal to Church and State, as being
bearers of important public offices 2 ; and that they will
continue to maintain that position as to character and
education which they are proved to have attained. What
ever spiritual gifts may be theirs by holy living and ordi
nation, they are required to be men whose character and
attainments are such as to place them in the foremost rank
of the educated classes ; and if there are those among the
clergy who do not come up to this ideal of the Church of
England, the fault lies in the administration of her rules,
not in her constitution a contingency against which even
stricter provisions than those which are made could not
ensure absolute safety 3 .
1 How far high education of clergymen is consistent with Holy Scripture
is shown by Bp. Bull in the Tenth Sermon printed in his English Theological
works. Although there are few, if any, Clergy so ignorant as those whom
Bp. Bull had in his mind when he wrote this famous sermon, the lessons
which it contains are of a character well calculated to " freshen up " in a
busy clergyman s mind a sense of the necessity for continual study as a part
of his official duties.
2 By subscribing the 36th Canon, containing three articles respecting the
Royal Supremacy, the Prayer Book, and the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion.
3 " Canon 34. The quality of such as are to be made ministers.
"No Bishop shall henceforth admit any person into Sacred Orders ....
except he .... hath taken some degree of school in either of the said
Universities ; or at the least, except he be able to yield an account of his
faith in Latin, according to the Articles of Religion approved in the Synod
of the Bishops and Clergy of this realm, one thousand five hundred sixty
and two, and to confirm the same by sufficient testimonies out of the Holy
b THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE.
The wisdom of these requirements will be sufficiently
apparent to any one who considers how much influence is
possessed by the clergy in the country at large, and by each
of them in their own particular parishes. They are often
the only link between those parishes and the other classes
of society, and their influence is most beneficial on the
side of order and morality in the midst of a society other
wise almost excluded from all good influences. It is also
necessary that they should be capable, from education and
social training (such as Universities furnish), of taking
their place without embarrassment to themselves or offence
to others on those higher levels of society which are occu
pied by their rich parishioners, that their office may be
respected through the respect won also by their persons.
For the clergy to be indifferent to such qualifications in
after life is to break the contract made with them ipso facto
in their ordination ; and clergy or laity who fail to see the
value of them have failed to learn the lessons which have
been taught by the result of their absence in the friars of
former days, the Dissenting preachers of modern times,
and many of the clergy in an age only lately passed away.
Scriptures ; and except, moreover, he shall then exhibit Letters Testimonial
of his good life and conversation, under the seal of some College of Cambridge
or Oxford, where before he remained ; or of three or four grave ministers ;
together with the subscription and testimony of other credible persons, who
have known his life and behaviour by the space of three years next before."
" Canon 35. The examination of such as are to be made ministers.
" .... If any Bishop or Suffragan shall admit any to Sacred Orders, who is
not so qualified and examined, as before we have ordained, the Archbishop of
his province having notice thereof, and being assisted therein by one Bishop,
shall suspend the said Bishop or Sulfragan so ofl ending, from making either
Deacons or Priests for the space of two years."
THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 7
It is certainly no part of the Church s intention that her
clergy as men of the world should be below men of other
professions in their acquirements or social status, any more
than that they should as Christians be below the higher
standards of personal religion. It would clearly be con
trary to the constitution of the Church of England if a
class of clergy were to arise similar to those of whom we
read in Macaulay s " History of England," in " Echard s
Contempt of the Clergy," or in the novels of the last age ;
a class whom, even so lately as 1781, Paley thought it
necessary to exhort, as Archdeacon of Carlisle, that they
should abstain from visiting beer-shops and from asso
ciating there on equal terms with very low company.
The social and educational position of the pastor is, in
fact, a most important element in the pursuit and develop
ment of his proper work, and one by no means to be
slighted. As an " officer and a gentleman " is the well-
known characteristic designation of a Queen s servant in
the navy or the army, so should the time-honoured ap
pellation of a " scholar and a gentleman " still continue to
be deserved by those who serve God in the ministry of the
Church of England.
. Qualifications conferred by Ordination.
Such being the acquirements which the clergy are pre
supposed to possess and exercise in common with other
men, let us go on to consider in what special particulars
they are differenced from them by the ceremony of ordi
nation, and what are the qualifications superadded by that
rite to the person in. whom the qualifications of character
8 THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE.
and education already exist, for the purpose of enabling
him to exercise the office of a pastor in the flock of the
good Shepherd.
In the first place, it is clear that the clergy
Separation on wnom the order of priesthood is conferred,
from the
Laity. and who are thus empowered to become pastors,
are, by the act of ordination, separated from
the ranks of secular men and from the pursuit of secular
employments, a KXijpoc of the Lord taken out from among
the Aao of the Lord.
In the formularies which bear upon the subject this is
made very plain. At the time of ordination an exhorta
tion is read to the candidate deacons by the bishop, in
which he sets forth the great responsibilities belonging to
the higher order which they are seeking, in which he is to
say, " And seeing that you cannot by any other means
compass the doing of so weighty a work, pertaining to the
salvation of man, but with doctrine and exhortation taken
out of the Holy Scriptures, and with a life agreeable to the
same ; consider how studious ye ought to be in reading
and learning the Scriptures .... and for this self -same
cause, how ye ought to forsake and set aside (as much as you
may] all worldly cares and studies. We have good hope
.... that you have clearly determined, by God s grace,
to give yourselves wholly to this office, whereunto it hath
pleased God to call you : so that, as much as lieth in you,
you will apply yourselves wholly to this one thing, and draw all
your cares and studies this way" In accordance with this
exhortation, one of the vows afterwards made by those to
be ordained is to " lay aside the study of the world and
THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 9
the flesh." And in case this should be thought indefinite,
there is the express law of the Church of England, con
tained in the 76th Canon, entitled "Ministers at no
time to forsake their calling;" which enjoins that "no
man being admitted a deacon or minister, shall from
thenceforth voluntarily relinquish the same, nor afterward
use himself in the course of his life as a layman, upon pain
of excommunication."
This separation of the clergy into a distinct order of
men is spoken of by the earliest Christian writers ; Clemens
Romanus 4 , the companion of St. Paul, and Ignatius s , the
apostolic bishop of Antioch, referring to it in their
Epistles ; and the (cAfj/ooe, KXmptKol, or ckrici, being clearly
distinguishable from the Xaoc or laid, the body of Chris
tian people in all early Christian writings. The reason of
this is, that by ordination men receive a distinctive " mark
or character, acknowledged to be indelible 6 ." "It severeth
them that have it," says Hooker, "from other men, and
maketh them a special order consecrated unto the service
of the Most High in things wherewith others may not
meddle." And although all Christian people are part of a
"royal priesthood," as "the whole congregation" was
" holy, every one of them, and the Lord was among them,"
yet is it an error to suppose that a separate ministry is,
for this reason, not required among Christians, as it was
in the " gainsaying of Core " for him and his companions
to say, " Wherefore thus lift ye up yourselves above the
congregation of the Lord 7 ?" This separation of the
* I. Ad Corinth. I. x. 19. 5 Ad Polyc. c. 6.
6 Hooker, V. Ixxvii. 2. 7 Numb. xvi. 3.
10 THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE.
clergy is so complete by the act of ordination, that,
again to use the words of Hooker, " let them know
which put their hands unto this plough, that, once conse
crated unto God, they are made His peculiar inheritance
for ever. Suspensions may stop, and degradations utterly
cut off the use or exercise of power before given ; but
voluntarily it is not in the power of man to separate and
pull asunder what God by His authority coupleth V As
therefore a person is so separated from the body of men
by baptism that he can never after become a heathen in
fact or in responsibility, however much he may become
like one in sin and wickedness, so a person qualified to
become pastor by ordination to the priesthood can never
again become in fact one of that body of laity from which
he has been separated by ordination, though a legal act
may possibly deprive him, or relieve him from the public
exercise of the duties to which he devoted himself.
But God never sends us duties, or lays rc-
^rvx b- f sponsibilities upon us, without giving us the
stowed. ability to work out the one, and to bear the
other. There is a -^apaKT^ impressed and im
posed by ordination, and there is also a ^apiana bestowed
with it by the same rite. The very words which our Lord
used when He bestowed that ^apia^a upon the twelve
apostles are used with an applied meaning and force by
the Church of England in the ordination of every one who
is to take the duties of pastor in a parish or a diocese. They
are, " Receive the Holy Ghost for the office and work of a
8 Hooker, V. Ixxvii. 3.
THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 11
priest in the Church of God, now committed unto thee by
the imposition of our hands 9 . Whose sins thou dost
forgive, they are forgiven; and whose sins thou dost
retain, they are retained. And be thou a faithful dispenser
of the Word of God, and of His holy Sacraments ; in the
Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost." In after life it is well for clergymen to recall to
mind the force which these words appeared to have at the
solemn time of ordination. No one could use them, no
one could kneel down before God to have them thus used,
with a conscious conviction that they meant much less
than according to the ordinary rules of language they
seem to mean. When our blessed Lord, "the chief
Shepherd," used them over the apostles, they conveyed (as
none can doubt) the gift which they professed to convey ;
and they could not be consciously adopted, either actively
by a bishop, or passively by the person voluntarily kneel
ing before him, without the alternative of belief or blas
phemy. Although then there may have been hesitation
and want of exact definition in explaining the sense in
which they have thus been used, there can be no doubt
that they have been substantially understood by the hun
dreds of English bishops who have used them, and the
thousands of English priests over whom they have been
uttered, in their literal and natural sense. They have
been understood to convey, in connexion with the accom
panying imposition of hands, a special gift of God for the
9 It is observable that until 1662 this form of words stood, " Receive the
Holy Ghost. Whose siiis," &c. The special designation of the object for
which the gift is bestowed was only then inserted.
12 THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE.
work of the priesthood in all its parts. And the special
gift thus bestowed is, in the words of Hooker, the " pre
sence of the Holy Ghost, partly to guide, direct, and
strengthen us in all our ways, and partly to assume unto
itself for the more authority those actions that appertain
to our place and calling." The consequence of this gift
is that "we have for the least and meanest duties per
formed by virtue of ministerial power, that to dignify,
grace, and authorize them, which no other offices on earth
can challenge. Whether we preach, pray, baptize, com
municate, condemn, give absolution, or whatsoever, as
disposers of God s mysteries, our words, judgments, acts,
and deeds are not ours but the Holy Ghost s V
The idea thus directly exhibited in the actual words of
ordination is also reflected in all the prayers which imme
diately refer to the clergy, and by the general analogy of
the services throughout the Prayer Book. In the litany
used at the time of ordination there is, besides the ordinary
prayer for the " illumination " of the clergy, a special
clause beseeching God that He will be pleased to bless
these His servants, and to pour His grace upon them,
that they may duly execute their office to the edifying of
His Church, and the glory of His holy Name. The
epistle read at the Communion is that significant one from
the fourth chapter of Ephesians in which St. Paul speaks
of the "gifts" bestowed on the Church through the
ascension of our Lord, " for the perfecting of the saints,
for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of
1 Hooker, V. Ixxvii. 8.
THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 13
Christ." The exhortation magnifies the office of the
priesthood, and declares that as the will, so the ability to
execute it aright is given by God alone. In the replies to
the bishop s questions, which constitute the ordination
vows of the priest, as the replies of the godparents at
baptism constitute the baptismal vows of the Christian,
the solemn form is used, " The Lord being my helper."
The bishop s blessing invokes the " strength and power "
of Almighty God upon the kneeling candidates. And,
lastly, the Yeni Creator is a special prayer for the gift of
the Holy Ghost to attend the imposition of hands. Thus
the general character of the Ordination Service illustrates
the reality of the central words used at the moment when
the persons are set apart by the " laying on of the hands
of the presbytery," and shows that they are used with the
solemn intention of conveying to those ordained the great
gift of which they profess to announce the bestowal.
Further illustration of a similar, but more independent
kind, is to be found in the general tone of the Prayer
Book, in places where no special petitions are offered
for the clergy apart from the Christian body at large.
In the absolution at morning and evening prayer the
" power " which God has given to His ministers is referred
to as well as the " commandment," the latter word repre
senting the xapcutrfip, the former the xapiafjia : and so
far as the absolutions at the Holy Communion and the
Visitation of the Sick are more authoritative in tone than
those at the daily services, so much further do they carry
the proof of the point in view. In all acts of benediction
there is likewise an assumption of a spiritual ability to
14 THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE.
convey blessing : and when in the Marriage Service the
priest says, " Those whom God hath joined together let
no man put asunder," it is directly and unmistakeably
assumed that the work of the priest is that which Hooker
declares it to be, the work of the Holy Ghost. So, further,
is the supra-natural qualification of the priest, as distinct
from the laity, clearly evidenced in all parts of the service
for the Holy Communion, from his offering of the " alms
and oblations " to his final offering of " this our sacrifice
of praise and thanksgiving," and the very sacred benedic
tion in which he fulfils the words of Christ, " My peace I
leave with you ;" " Freely ye have received, freely give."
And in all this, the tone of the Prayer Book is quite in
keeping with the tone -of Holy Scripture, in passages such
as 2 Cor. iii. 6, 7 ; Eph. iii. 7 ; iv. 7 ; 1 Tim. i. 12, and
many others 2 , which speak of the ministerial capacity as
derived from a gift which God has bestowed especially on
His ministers for the purposes of the work assigned them
in building up the mystical body of Christ.
In the exercise of such a gift is fulfilled that truth
declared by the Apostle in the first of the above passages :
" Who also hath made us able ministers (ocavwcrfv i^uae
SmKovouc) of the New Testament ; not of the letter, but of
the spirit : for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in
stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could
not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of
2 Some, of which the meaning is lost in the English, as is the case with
St. Paul s description of himself in Rom. xv. 16, Xfirovpyov Itjaov
iipovpyouvTa TO tvayye\iov rov Ofov.
THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 15
his countenance ; which glory was to be done away ; how
shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious ?
For if the ministration of condemnation be glorious, much
more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in
glory." By the gift of the Spirit to the Christian ministry
for the ministration of the Spirit, all the various offices of
the old Jewish ministry which are gathered up into it are
elevated, because they are spiritualized. The principle of
the ministry of God, as far as it was developed under the
Old Testament dispensation, was contained in the offices of
elder and priest. In the same ministry under the New
Testament dispensation, these offices are combined and
elevated, so that the elder of the synagogue and the priest
of the temple are united and continued, but in a more
" glorious " ministry, in the Christian priest. No longer
indeed does the presbyter interpret a law to which
obedience in any high degree was an impossibility, for
the ministration of condemnation has been displaced by
the ministration of righteousness. No longer does the
priest of God offer up sacrifices of slain beasts which could
not take away sin, for the blood of the Lamb has been shed
once for all : the offering of the shewbread has passed
into the exalted offering of the Eucharist, and that of
incense into prayer in the name of Christ 3 . Glorious as
3 A change beautifully predicted by the prophet Malachi. " From the
rising up of the Sun to the going down of the same, My Name shall be great
among the Gentiles, and in every place incense shall be offered unto My
Name, and a pure offering ; for My Name shall be great among the heathen,
saith the Lord of Hosts." Malachi i. 11. So one of the earliest of Jewish
commentaries, the Berescith Rahba, the substance of which dates from the
time of our Lord, is said to declare that " in the times of the Messiah, all
offerings shall cease, except the offering of Bread and Wine."
16 THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE.
was the ministration which dealt with types and shadows,
how much more glorious is the ministration which deals
with the realities and substance of worship and grace,
through the power of the Holy Ghost accompanying it.
" For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord."
" We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the
excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us."
. Cure of souls, and relation of Pastor to God and man.
By separation to his office then, and by the special gift
of the Holy Ghost bestowed for the work of that office, the
Christian priest is qualified to become a pastor of Christ s
flock. The qualifications for that position are completed
by ordination, but the actual and definite cure of souls
is given by institution to a particular parish. The chief
cure of the souls of every diocese is vested in its bishop,
and every priest entrusted with it acts as his deputy.
Accordingly cure of souls is given in a solemn manner
by the clergyman to be instituted kneeling before the
bishop, who commits to him the charge with the words
(or some of a similar kind), "Receive this charge, my
cure of souls and thine, in the Name of the Father, and of
the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." A commission of a less
responsible nature is given to unbeneficed clergymen,
in the form of a licence "to do the work of an assistant
curate," in some parish already committed, as rectory,
vicarage, or perpetual curacy, to an actual curate in the
person of the clergyman holding the benefice *.
4 See Appendix A.
THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 17
Such being the characteristics of the pastoral office
as set forth in the formularies and usages of the Church of
England, let us conclude this chapter by taking a review
of that office as a whole, and especially in its relation
to that Chief Pastor whom it represents in His flock on
earth.
For the word itself, it is not clear how it became
originally applied to the ministers of God. The earliest
instances of its use in a spiritual sense at all, are to be
found in that highest sense in which it is applied to
our Blessed Lord. Probably "the shepherd, the stone
of Israel," in Jacob s blessing, is such an application,
and several of a similar character in the Psalms. But
the earliest certain use of the term in this way, is
by the prophet Isaiah, in the beautiful passage, "He
shall feed His flock like a shepherd; He shall gather
the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom,
and shall gently lead those that are with young." The
same prophet does indeed say of some, "His watchmen
are blind .... dumb dogs .... they are shepherds which
cannot understand:" and there are fourteen or fifteen
places in Jeremiah, where there are similar allusions ;
but in all these passages, the secular leaders (or the priests
as secular leaders) of Israel appear to be intended : and
I do not think there are any instances before the
Captivity, in which the Old Testament writers use the
word pastor in the sense of a spiritual leader, except
in those where our Lord Himself is referred to in His
character as the Messiah.
In Ezekiel and the post- captivity writers the word is
18 THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE.
more clearly used in the Gospel sense. Perhaps this is to
be accounted for by the fact that those persons who, from
their knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, were competent
to teach and expound them in the synagogues, were called
by the name of pastors ; and that as synagogues were not
established before the Captivity, (though proscuchao were
common,) such officers did not exist in the time of Isaiah
and earlier writers. In later times, the Jews applied the
same name to their elders, and to the collectors of alms,
or deacons : and hence probably, though by no means
certainly, the introduction of it into the Christian Church.
In the formularies of the Church of England the word is
used three or four times only, in one of the Ordination
prayers, and in the collects of St. Peter s and St.
Matthias s days. The Litany clause in which the clergy
are prayed for, was once worded " Bishops, pastors, and
ministers of the Church," but at the Savoy Conference
in 1662, the expression was exchanged for "Bishops,
Priests, and Deacons," the terms "pastor" and "minis
ter " being too general to be used as specific names of
the two lower orders of the ministry 5 . It need hardly be
added, that the idea of the laity being a flock, of sinners
being lost sheep, presupposes in some degree the appella
tion of shepherd for their clergy.
The New Testament application of the term pastor is of
5 I do not feel at all sure, however, that "pastors and ministers " did not
represent beneficed priests (with cure of souls) and their assistant deacons.
Until recent times I do not think any but deacons were unbeneficed,
except a few priests who acted as substitutes for non-resident rectors and
vicars ; and perhaps they had been ordained priests on college titles.
THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 19
such sanctified origin as to establish a firm place for it in
the vocabulary of the Christian Church of all ages.
Among the many terms afterwards adopted to express
the functions or responsibilities of the Christian ministry,
such as stewards, watchmen, ambassadors, builders,
labourers, pastor or shepherd is the one term which
our Blessed Lord identifies with His own ministerial
office and functions; "I am the Good Shepherd:" and
His use of it seems to have dwelt on the ears of the
early Church, like the echo of a sweet strain of music.
Thus St. Paul speaks of "the Lord Jesus, that great
Shepherd of the sheep," and the Apostle to whom his
Master had said "Feed My sheep" calls that Master
" the chief Shepherd," in memory of his own subordinate
pastorate ; and bids the sheep of his own nation, who were
scattered abroad, remember that they had come out of
Judaism into the Christian flock of Him who was the
" Shepherd and Bishop of their souls V
In the last words of the Good Shepherd to St. Peter, we
may find, as St. Chrysostom beautifully shows, the true
key to the meaning and use of the word pastor. The
sole question which He asked of the Apostle was, " Lovest
thouMe?" It was the sole qualification He sought for
in him whom He had already " enabled " by setting him
apart for the Apostleship. And so again for proof of
Considering the free use of "pastor" as a designation of Christian
ministers, it is singular to find that there is only one instance of such an
application of the word in the New Testament, that in Eph. iv. 11.
Hooker thought that the " pastors and teachers " there spoken of, were
Presbyters with cure of souls, as distinguished from itinerant "Evan
gelists."
c 2
20 THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE.
his love, He bade the Apostle do but one work, " Feed My
sheep." He might have said to him, If you love Me,
fast, lie on the naked ground, be in watchings, defend
the oppressed, be a father to the orphan, and a husband
to the widow. But passing by all else, what does He
say more than "Feed My sheep?" And what more
need He to say ? For to love Him as the penitent
Apostle loved is to be ready to do all these and much
more in His service; and to feed the sheep of Christ
is to do these things and all else that falls within the
province of the Good Shepherd s deputies in the earthly
work of His Church.
Thus we may see how a true interpretation of the
pastoral office must be sought, not in any contracted
notions that may have been attached to the term pastor
by those who have taken only a surface glance at Holy
Scripture, and judged of God s words by their own pre
conceived opinions, but in the full development of those
characteristics which belong to the work of Christ in
gathering souls out of the wilderness of the world, into
the "one fold" of the "one Shepherd." The perfect
pattern of pastoral work is to be found in Him of whom
it was said of old, " He shall feed His flock like a
shepherd ; He shall gather the lambs with His arm,
and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead
those that are with young:" "As a shepherd seeketh
out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep
that are scattered ; so will I seek out My sheep, and
will deliver them out of all places where they have
been scattered in the cloudy and dark day I will
THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 21
feed My flock, and cause them to lie down, saith the
Lord God. I will seek that which was lost, and bring
again that which was driven away, and will bind up
that which was broken, and will strengthen that which
was sick .... I will feed them with judgment And
I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed
them, even My servant David; he shall feed them,
and he shall be their shepherd." "The good shepherd
giveth his life for the sheep. But he that is an hireling,
and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not,
seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep and fleeth,
and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.
The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth
not for the sheep. I am the Good Shepherd, and know
My sheep, and am known of Mine. As the Father
knoweth Me, even so know I the Father, and I lay down
My life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which
are not of this fold : them also I must bring, and they
shall hear My voice, and there shall be one fold, and one
shepherd 7 ."
From the exalted pattern thus set before us in the
person of the Good Shepherd, we may revert again to the
characteristics of His servants and deputies as set forth in
the formularies of the Church ; and combining the two,
so far as we may, in one picture, we shall form an ideal of
the pastor as a servant of Christ separated from among
His ordinary servants, and endowed with special grace to
carry on His work. As He is the one and only Mediator
between God and man, so does He depute to these His
i Isa. xl. 11. Ezek. xxxiv. 12. 23. St. John x. 11. 16.
22 THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE.
servants to be channels of communication by which the
benefits of His mediation are conveyed to men. As He is
the one Intercessor in heaven, so does He set apart His
ministers to lead the intercessions of the congregation of
the faithful to the Father by Him. As He is the " one
Shepherd " whose mediation and intercession are the means
by which lost sheep arc brought into the green pastures,
and led beside the still waters of God s grace and salva
tion, so does He send forth His under-shepherds into the
world to gather in, and to feed, to guide, guard, and save
the sheep of His inheritance. And looking at our Lord s
pastoral character as proceeding from His mediatorial and
intercessional character, it will be seen how the charac
teristics of those pastors whom He makes His deputies in
the kingdom of grace must be of an analogous nature. By
imposition of hands they become channels of communica
tion between the Lord and His people, ministering to
the people in the name of God, ministering to God on
behalf of the people. In the one capacity they perform
such offices as those of teaching, exhorting, blessing,
absolving, baptizing, administering the Holy Eucharist.
In the other capacity they lead the praises and prayers of
the congregation, offer up its alms and oblations, and
intercede with God in a ministerial sense for those whom
they have in charge, as others intercede for each other as
private Christians. This character of their office should
also be reproduced in all their work, so that every thing
which is done by them in their official capacity should be
done as in the name of God on the one hand, and for the
good oi souls on the other.
THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 23
And "who is sufficient for these things?" Very truly
does St. Augustine say, " JNihil est in hac vita difficilius,
laboriosius, periculosius Presbyteri vita." So difficult and
dangerous and laborious is the labour of him who has
thus to lead a portion of Christ s flock, and tend it on its
way to the promised land, that he may well take up the
words of Moses : " If Thy presence go not with me, carry us
not up hence." Those who feel the real magnitude of the
responsibility laid upon them by the pastoral office, will
feel also the comfort of the thought that God s presence as
really goes with them as it did with Moses : and the words
spoken to a later leader of Israel may often come into their
mind to refresh them : " Go in this thy might, and thou
shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Ilave
not I sent thee ? Surely I will be with thee." "We
might indeed hesitate in undertaking the office from
consciousness of the disproportion between its nature and
our unworthiness and insufficiency, but that we have
Scriptural warrant for the doctrine which I have here
endeavoured to elucidate that " our sufficiency is of God,
who hath made us able ministers of the New Testament."
In the conviction that the words " Receive the Holy Ghost
for the work of a priest " are words as true as they are
awful, we may go to that work day by day in the conscious
ness that we are "workers together with God" through
His grace bestowed upon us for the purpose of His work 8 .
8 Clerical meetings have sometimes been held, the object of which was to
pray for an outpouring of the Holy Ghost upon the ministry of the Church.
Was sufficient faith shown, by those who met, in the outpouring which God
has already vouchsafed them ?
24 THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE.
And it must bo the endeavour of every clergyman to stir
up (avaZtWirvptiv] the gift of God that is in him by the
laying on of hands, that he may go forth continually in
the strength of the Lord God, to do as a humble repre
sentative of the Chief Shepherd, the work of a faithful,
grace-endowed, and fully commissioned pastor in the midst
of His flock that is scattered abroad. " As My Father hath
sent Me," said the Good Shepherd, "even so send I you."
A few words may be fitting, as a sequel to the foregoing,
on what may be called the secular phase of a clergyman s
spiritual ministrations ; the comforts and discomforts which
belong to his office, and respecting which much exagge
rated language is sometimes used. We may take up a
book on the Christian ministry and find at one end an
allegation that no conscientious mind can expect temporal
ease and comfort, or any thing but a daily cross in the
pursuit of pastoral duties. At the other end of the same
book we may find allegations equally strong that a clergy
man whose work does not make him very happy must have
something radically wrong about him. The real truth
does not lie in either of these extremes. There is much
that is pleasant in the life of a clergyman, faithful and
hard-working as I of course presuppose him to be, and
much which brings pain and discomfort, especially in the
later life of poor beneficed and unbeneficed men. As St.
Jerome says of the text, " He that desireth the office of a
bishop desireth a good work," Opus, non dignitatem,
laborem, non (telicias, so certainly he who undertakes pas-
THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 25
toral work, whether in a crowded town or an agricultural
village, must undertake it with his eye set firmly on the
labours and anxieties which will belong to his position :
and he must unflinchingly buckle on his armour with a
prayer that he may seek nothing but the glory of the
Master in whose service he is enlisted, and the unwearying
guidance of the souls given into his care.
But there is much to alleviate this burden of toil and
responsibility. In the course of his work the faithful
pastor will hardly fail to see something at least of success
attending his labours. He will be able to point to souls
converted or strengthened by his ministrations, to comfort
given to the aged, and instruction to the young. He will
be able to reckon up many who by his hands have been
made members of Christ, many who have been fed with
heavenly food in the Holy Sacrament that he has been
privileged to administer to them. He can point to some
work in his parish which has promoted the glory of God,
a church restored, a school built, extra services established,
a larger congregation gathered, an increased proportion of
religious persons in the parish. And as professional success
in any other career would bring its own reward to the
mind, so, and much more, does it do so in that profession
which is concerned with so great and solemn a responsi
bility. It is unfair not to set this laudable satisfaction
which a diligent clergyman feels at the success of his
ministry as a balance against the amount of toil, anxiety,
discouragement, and vexation for which he is liable.
Apart from these spiritual alleviations of the ministerial
burden, it is also fair to reckon the advantages of good
26 THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE.
position which belong to the clerical office, and of that
universal esteem and respect which are accorded to any
one who occupies it in a faithful manner. Nor least of all
is that comfort of a life endowment to which the beneficed
clergy are able to look, the smallness of which is fre
quently compensated for by its certainty.
Altogether it must be allowed that there is much pro
mise of the life that now is, as well as of the life which
is to come, in the career of a conscientious beneficed clergy
man. And, provided his benefice is such that with the
simple habits which befit the clerical life, he is saved from
the torture of the res angusta domi, it may probably be
reckoned as one of the happiest careers that can fall to the
lot of a working man, though his anxieties be great and
his labours severe. There- is no other calling in which a
man s professional labours, those by which he gains his
livelihood, are of such a nature that they can be regis
tered in the courts of heaven as essentially works redound
ing to the glory of God and the salvation of souls. The
reading and study of Holy Scripture, the constant service
of God in the sanctuary, the frequent communions, are all
means of grace calculated to lead him forward in holiness,
and build him up in Christ. The ministrations to the
poor, with the many charities of life called out by the
ministerial office, are such as if pursued in a holy spirit
cannot fail to be most acceptable to Him whose words
will be, " Forasmuch as ye did it unto the least of these
My brethren, ye did it unto Me." The highest aspirations
of saints have, indeed, been to lead such a life as the
faithful pastor leads by the mere diligent attention to his
THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 27
professional duties ; and spiritual advantages so conducive
to personal religion cannot be overvalued.
And if, after all, it is said that excepting the result of
definite official acts, there is really very little fruit to be
seen of all a pastor s labours, let it be remembered that
this is, more or less, a consequence which must follow from
the very nature of his work. In other professions a man
may be able to see every thing, his work, the result of it,
and the path by which the result was attained. But in
other professions men are dealing with the things of a
visible world : the pastor deals with those of a world
unseen. There may be a large amount of real solid results
which will never show themselves before the day when all
hidden things will be brought to the light. Reserve on
one side, want of penetration on the other ; the uncertainty
which must ever surround our knowledge of another
person s spiritual condition; all this will form a veil
between the pastor s work and the results following it, and
it is hopeless for him to try and draw that veil aside.
Let him submit to its presence as part of his discipline,
and work on with steady cheerfulness in the certainty
that God is working with him, and that he is helping to
build up a fabric whose true solidity will only be fully
revealed when all other work of man has passed away like
a summer cloud.
CHAPTER II.
THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD.
WHEN the external framework of our being first came
forth from the hands of its Maker, lie breathed into
man s nostrils the breath of life, and that exterior frame
work was henceforth inhabited by a living soul, a partaker
of that " spirit " which, after its allotted time of sojourn,
again " returns " to God who gave it. This principle of
life is undiscoverable by the keenest penetration of science,
and yet it is the source of all man s mental and physical
power, being so because it is a Divine principle. Hence
human nature is brought into so mysteriously near a
relation to God, even by creation, that the life of man
is sacred. God requires it at the hand of every man, his
own life and his brother s, as a treasure confided tem
porarily to his keeping, for which he must render an
account to Him who has thus endowed him with it. If
we were to follow up the detail of this accountability,
we should see how it extends to all the voluntary acts
of our nature, which derive their power from the life
which enables us to perform them. And hence the ques
tion, How does a man live, well or ill ? is really equivalent
THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD. 29
to the question, How does he use the life which God has
entrusted to his care and stewardship ?
Doubtless there is a very close analogy be
tween the Divine gift of physical life, and the Analo ey bc -
r * tween the
Divine gift of spiritual life ; and it would be a ? ift f the
Holy Ghost
not unprofitable labour to trace out that ana- and God s
logy in its various ramifications. But my furanife 1 "
present object is to use it as an illustration of
the position in which the recipient of the grace of God
for ministerial purposes is placed with reference to the
Bestower of it, and not to deal with the question as it
belongs to the kingdom of grace at large.
As I have already shown in the preceding chapter,
the pastoral ofiice is a delegation from the Good Shepherd
Himself; and a delegation, not only in the sense of a
commission to do certain work for Him by means of na
tural powers, but also in the sense of a conveyance to the
person commissioned of some of the spiritual ability or
power to do those things of which the Good Shepherd
Himself is the inexhaustible fountain. Regarding the
minister of Christ as a steward, it is to be understood that
property is placed at his disposal, out of which he is to
maintain the household ; as a soldier, he is sent forth by
royal authority, and with arms in his hand.
That, then, which the principle of life is to human
nature the grace of ordination is to the Christian ministry.
It is a Divine gift which no eye can see, but which yet
endows him who receives it with a capacity for action
that he could not otherwise possess. Being Divine, this
gift brings the receiver of it into a mysteriously close
30 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD.
relation to Him who bestows it. And being a gift only
in the sense of an endowment, it entails upon the possessor
the responsibility of stewardship, so that when God shall
take His own back again, He may receive with it the
usury earned by a faithful and diligent servant.
Following up, then, into some detail the consequences
which flow from the bestowal of this gift of ministerial
capacity (the arterial life, if I may use such an expression,
of the Church Militant), it will now be my object to show
the relation in which the human pastor is placed to the
Divine, first, in respect to the nature of his office ; secondly,
as to the responsibilities thrown upon him ; and thirdly,
as to the practical duties flowing from these responsi
bilities.
. Results of the official relation.
The pastoral ofiice being a delegation from
authority! the Chief Shepherd, authority to act in the
name of God belongs essentially to its nature.
The image of God in Adam was the instrumental cause
of his sovereignty over the things of the visible world.
Moses was sent forth to his work with so complete a dele
gation of Divine authority that the Lord Himself said to
him, " Thou shalt be to Aaron instead of God : " " See,
I have made thee a god unto Pharaoh V The prophets
1 It is very observable that our Lord s well-known reference to the
eighty -sixth Psalm, " I have said, yc are gods," which appears to be founded
on this incident in the intercourse of Moses with God, occurs in immediate
connexion with His discourse on the Pastoral Office ; "If He called them
gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the Scripture cannot bo
broken." St. John x. 35.
THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD. 31
of the old dispensation ever went forth with " Thus saith
the Lord," unhesitatingly, on their lips. The Evangelists
and Apostles were sent in the name of Christ to preach
the glad tidings of salvation in Him, and to cast out
devils who were opposing His progress to the hearts of
men ; and the Church could say, for several years after
our Lord s ascension as well as before, "In Thy Name
have we done many wonderful works." Looking, then,
at such illustrations as these, which are given in the Holy
Scriptures, of the results which followed upon a delegation
of authority by God to man, it seems difficult to attach too
high an importance to those acts which are done by the
Christian ministry when it goes forth among Christ s
flock, commissioned to do them in His Name, the Name
of Christ and of God. Indeed, it seems more probable
that the clergy themselves may be in danger of attaching
too little consequence to what they do as the deputies of
Christ ; and that they may say and do things officially
without sufficient thought of the real spiritual bearing
which their words and deeds may have towards others.
The necessity of " intention " towards the efficacy of minis
terial acts and words is no doctrine of the Church of
England. It may be that the comparatively heedless
words of a pastor may fall with a spiritual weight, as
regards those to whom, or on whose behalf they are
uttered, which will not be revealed until the results are
laid open to view at the day of judgment.
A faithful appreciation of the authority with which his
ministerial words and actions are endowed, is therefore
an essential element in the formation of a good pastor;
32 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TQ GOD.
and a humble, self- annihilating reliance on that authority
will often stand him in good stead when all "influence"
derived from lower sources would prove utterly valueless.
He must endeavour to sink his own personality in that
of his Master, whose he is, and whose work he is doing,
and try to say with the Apostle, "I can do all things
through Christ, which strengtheneth me." "What folly,
as well as sin, would it have been in the Apostles for
them to have gone out to their work of healing the sick,
casting out devils, proclaiming "the kingdom of God is
at hand," if they had gone regardless of the fact that they
went in the name of Christ; and how analogous to the
sin of Moses, when he said, "Must ice fetch you water
out of the stony rock ?" Very nearly akin to such sin and
folly must be that of men who are sent forth as the
pastors of Christ, the Chief Shepherd, and yet fail to
realize the fact that their official words and acts, whether
they will or no, bear the impress of His authority. On
the other hand, very real and solid will his work seem
to the clergyman who constantly goes about it under the
influence of such convictions as his Master s words give
him a right to, " Into whatsoever house ye enter, first say,
Peace be to this house. And if the son of peace be there,
your peace shall rest upon it ; if not, it shall turn to you
again." " "Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My
Name, I will give it unto you." " "Whatsoever ye shall
bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever
ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven "." Very
2 The reality of the pastoral office would be more perfectly appreciated,
if it were always remembered that some of our Lord s most precious pro-
THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD 33
important must all the official acts and words of that
office be, of some of which our Lord could thus speak ;
and very necessary it is that every pastor should have
a clear apprehension of the fact that God ratifies the work
of His ministers to an extent of which man may not
proudly pretend to define the limits.
The sacred gift of the Holy Ghost also en
dows a pastor with a capacity, faculty, or ^kg**^
* * * power or ca-
power in ministerial acts of a more definite pacity for
character than those to which I have princi- action.
pally referred in the preceding paragraphs ;
so that, whether in their relation to God or to the souls of
men, those acts have an efficiency which does not belong
to them irrespectively of the gift. I have already quoted,
at page 12, a lucid and outspoken passage from the vener
able Hooker on this point, which more than justifies the
definite language I am using ; but the common sense of
the world as clearly acknowledges that such a capacity
is vested in the clergy. No one, for example, would doubt
that a solemn benediction in the words of the Communion
Service, pronounced by a bishop or a priest, is of more
value to the souls of those over whom it is uttered than
the same words would be if pronounced by a mere layman 3 .
Again, it would shock the majority of serious minded
persons in any intelligent circle of society, if a layman
mises, as those contained in several chapters of St. John, were primarily,
at least, addressed to the Apostles in their pastoral capacity, and not as
ordinary disciples.
3 Many would feel this who yet hold much lower notions respecting
ordination than those authorized in the Prayer Book.
D
34 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD.
were to go through the form of consecrating the Holy
Eucharist; and this feeling would spring not only from
the knowledge that such an act was a flagrant trans
gression of Church customs and law, but also from a
sense, more or less defined, that it was an unreality, a
profane imitation of an external rite from which no in
ward grace was to be expected.
A strong conviction of this on the part of the pastor
would not only give him a deep sense of responsibility, but
would also strengthen his perception of the reality be
longing to his office. He would regard himself as in
continual contact with the unseen world ; engaged with
the things of God, in respect to which sacrilege is a
comparatively easy sin ; as in a very close communion
official communion with Christ, which necessitates greater
personal holiness, if possible, than the relation between
ordinary Christians and their Head.
The doubts and hesitations by which many minds are
perplexed in these days would be banished by a full and
simple consideration of this principle. A minister of the
Church of England who has no belief in a supra-natural
system of grace must indeed hesitate and doubt as to the
use of the formularies to which he is bound ; and his only
mode of escape is to explain away the solemn words
which he has to take continually upon his lips. When
he has done so, I do not see how a conscientious person
can feel satisfied in the continued use of "explained
away" formularies. One must surely long to use them
in their simple meaning ; and no difficulty will be found
in doing so if they are recognized as a part of a system
THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD. 35
in which ministerial acts and words have a power derived
from God, as well as an outward form. Many mistakes
are made through a partial and incomplete apprehension
of this great truth. One hears phrases about the re
generation of children by Holy Baptism, the reality of
the gift bestowed in the Holy Communion, the forgive
ness of sins in Absolution, which leave many minds open
to an impression that the priest is supposed to effect the
regeneration, reality, or forgiveness ; but such phrases
will have no place in the vocabulary of a clergyman,
or a layman either, who thoroughly recognizes the re
lation between the human pastors and the One Divine.
Whatever is the spiritual effect of words or actions
that are used by the ministers of God, that effect is
produced by God alone ; and the minister of God can
no more be said to produce these results than the
conduit which conveys water from the mountain spring
to the lips of the drinker can be said to quench his
thirst.
Let me pause for a moment to illustrate this point more
fully, in connexion with a portion of the ministerial
power claimed and exercised in the Church of England,
which has had a prominent place in modern discussions
upon the question now in hand.
When the Pharisees said, " Who can forgive
sins, but God only ?" our Lord did not reply illustrated
that man could forgive them when authorized ^ n absolu-
by God, but led them to look to His own person
as the source of all such power under the mediatorial sys
tem and dispensation. He wrought a miracle to show
D 2
36 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD.
them that "the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive
sins," because He carries in His own Divine person the
power of the Almighty, not ministerially, but essentially.
It was perfectly true that man could not forgive sins, but
God only 4 , and yet the Jews had long been familiar
with a sacrificial system, in which the priests of the
temple were used by God as the means by which to
convey His forgiveness to men. The Lord Jesus revealed
Himself as now exercising in a new form, without the
intervention of any typical sacrifice, the Divine Power
of the forgiveness of sins. Afterwards He caused this
power to flow from Himself as the newly revealed
fountain head, through the channel of Apostolic minis
trations, when He gave to the ten Apostles assembled
on the day of His resurrection, the primary commission of
the Church. " As My Father hath sent Me, even so send I
you. And when He had said this, He breathed on them,
and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost : Whose
soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them : and
whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained V It still
remained a fact, as it ever will remain, that none can
forgive sins but God only : so that these words must
be interpreted in the sense indicated by our Lord s
previous words on binding and loosing, viz. that what
the Apostles did in their ministerial office, had pOAver
* Some sentences of this kind are, however, taken up by those who use
them, as if they were the words of God, instead of being quotations inserted
therein from the sayings of those who were opposing our Lord. When
Satan used Holy Scripture against our Lord, he used it in such a way as to
disguise a fallacy in the garb of the words of truth.
* St. John xx. 21.
THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD. 37
towards the souls of men, because though done by men
on earth, it was done by those who were acting as the
deputies of the Chief Shepherd, and would be, nothing
hindering, ratified by God in heaven.
Now the very words used by our Lord to the Apostles
are taken up by the Church, and put into the mouth
of every bishop every time that he ordains any to go
forth and do his Master s work : and what I have already
said of the words of ordination must be here repeated,
viz. that if they are not true there is only one alternative,
they must be untrue ; and if they are untrue, they are
words of such solemn import and origin, that the untrue
use of them must be blasphemous. But the application
of them by the Church of England in the Ordination Ser
vice, and also in the office which the pastor is directed to
use in his Visitation of the Sick, (if required,) is so direct
as to put this alternative beyond the reach of any humble-
minded Christian who considers the weight of authority
which has accumulated upon that application by continuous
use for centuries by the holiest of men. And we must
conclude that the boldness of the Church in assuming the
Divine words, and thus applying them, is a guide to the
individual pastor as to the sense in which he is to regard
his own official ministrations.
Such a sense will amount to a thorough dependence
upon God for the efficacy of his ministrations : and he who
has it, cannot have either doubt as to that efficacy, or
haughty feelings with reference to his own "sacerdotal
power." The forgiveness of sins (to continue to use this
example) is utterly and entirely God s act. Whether
38 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD.
the words of His minister will be ratified by Him, depends
upon whether the free will of the person over whom they
are uttered does or does not interpose the hindrance of
unrepentance as a bar to the operation of Divine grace.
If the words do convey that grace, it is because the
person pronouncing them does so in the name of God.
If the forgiveness is bestowed thus, it is because God
has willed that His gifts shall flow through visible and
audible channels so long as the invisible souls of men are
placed in the material vehicles of their bodies for the
purposes of their probation.
The illustration which I have thus used may be ex
tended by analogy to all other ministerial acts of the
pastoral office, whether done in church at the altar,
or, like the one referred to, in the private ministrations
of the parish. Every pastor ought to have firm and
unwavering faith in this grace of God given to him
for his official work ; and should endeavour as far as
possible to subordinate the mere personal element to
the official in whatever he does, and in all his thoughts
respecting it. So far as he is concerned the power
of God conveyed by his ministrations is such that he
cannot dissociate it from the more sacred of his functions ;
though not so tied down to those functions that those
to whom he ministers cannot break the connexion. If
an impenitent soul receives the word of absolution in
the congregation or in private, it is still God s word,
although the impenitence of the sinner may cause it
to return to Him void. So also in other ministerial acts,
if the sinner himself places an impediment in the way
THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO* GOD. 39
of God s grace conveyed by those acts, the minister
doing them is still the channel of that grace : and if he
has done his office faithfully he has no part in the slight
offered to it, or in the harm that results to the unfaithful
receiver of it.
I conceive it to be essential to the proper
Prudence
realization of his office, and of his relation necessary in
to God, that the pastor should have these a bout m fhe
"high notions," as they are often called, of ^^f* 01 ^
. ... . Office.
his ministerial acts. It is also very desirable
that his flock shoidd have a just conception of the real
position occupied by their minister, both towards God and
themselves, in the Christian system. A "low" opinion
respecting the spiritual capacity of the ministry, and of
the extent to which God in Heaven ratifies their work
on earth, may be a real obstacle to their Christian pro
gress. But much discretion is to be used in " preaching
up " the pastoral office, or it may happen that those who
entertain unworthy views of it, may be hardened in them ;
and those who felt little respect for it before, feel less
afterwards. I will therefore venture to add some cautions
by way of suggestion which the reader may perhaps find
useful as a guide to his own thoughts on the subject.
1. It scarcely rests with young men just in holy orders
to say much about the authority and spiritual power
of the priesthood. It is possible they may feel strongly
on the subject, and think they see a great necessity for
expressing their feelings: but their neophyte position
renders it prudent for them to restrain for a time, at least?
that expression.
40 THE ^RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD.
2. Such kind of teaching comes with the best grace from
those who scrupulously show by their diligence, earnest
ness, and good living, that they themselves feel that
respect for their omce which they require others to feel.
If a clergyman preaches wretchedly bad sermons, the
less he says about the value of preaching, the better for
himself and his people. An unholy priest cannot expect
to be listened to with respect, if, in effect, he says, " See,
here is my office, and here is my unholiness ; in spite
of the latter, the former is efficacious." It may be true,
but if his people did not believe the fact before he told
them, they will hardly do so after.
3. Great care should be used to make it clear that such
claims are urged for the honour of God, and the good
of souls, and not for the temporal or social exaltation
of the clergy. Of all things pastors should avoid speaking
as " lords over God s heritage."
4. Let the spirit of such teaching, and even the tone in
which it is uttered, be always that of St. Paul, " I magnify
mine office." " God, who hath made us able ministers of
the New Testament." " Not I, but Christ that dwelleth
in me."
5. Let it be seen that the pastor has at least as high a
sense of the heavy responsibility of his office, and of his
insufficiency for the perfect fulfilment of its duties, as he
has of its importance and dignity. Any boasting or self-
sufficient tone in preaching or conversation about "the
power of the keys," e. g. is justly most offensive. If a
clergyman thoroughly appreciates his responsibilities in
exercising power over the souls of men, he ought to shrink
THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD. 41
into humbleness and self-abasement, not expand into vain-
gloriousness and self-satisfaction.
6. A clergyman ought to be a man of some calibre to
put forward at all prominently the claims of the ministry.
High-sounding claims from men of too evidently small
capacities may be just, but they are apt to suggest satirical
criticisms which do harm. There was nothing con
temptible about the fishermen of Galilee, though they
tl / V 5^ - )>
were aypa/Ujuarot eu totwrat.
7. Finally, to adopt the words of a modern bishop,
"Practise this truth, so full of encouragement to your
weakness ; use it so as to add might to your prayers ; act
upon it as a truth in your daily ministrations ; act on it,
not by putting forward great claims, however well founded,
in your sermons and in your discourses, to the power
vested in you by your undoubted succession from the
apostles of the Lord, but by showing forth silently, noise
lessly, and without pretension, the character which belongs
to their successors."
"With which words of caution I will now pass on to con
sider another branch of the subject immediately flowing from
the one which has occupied attention in the last few pages.
. Official duties flowing from the relation of the Pastor to God.
What has preceded will prepare us for looking with
serious minds at all practical duties which flow from the
relation existing between the human and the Divine
Pastor : and will, I trust, have strengthened the reader in
his conviction that, apart from any considerations of the
clergyman s responsibility to men, there are ample reasons
42 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD.
why lie should be a person who well knows what he has to
do, and who uses his best endeavour to do it thoroughly.
Thus, his duty towards God requires the
Exactness in r , -i /> f
all minis- pastor to be very exact in his perlormance of
tenalfunc- a ^ public and private ministrations. Nicety
in externals is sometimes slighted as if it was
rather a dishonour than otherwise to the reality and
spirituality of the things of God. But there is a danger
of so slighting the externals as to be doing this very
dishonour to the interior realities which it is wished to
avoid. For, let it be remembered, the services of the
sanctuary, and the whole work of those who are set apart
to minister there and in the parish, are not framed only
for the edification of man, but for the glory of God. The
public services, especially, consist not only of a worship
offered up by the soul, but also of a worship offered by the
soul expressing itself through the body. We cannot con
ceive of any service rendered to God by the Church in
heaven that it will admit any admixture of slovenliness,
or a free familiarity with the Object of adoration : and in
the Church on earth the ministers of God should set an
example to their people in respect to a reverent exact
ness in all which concerns the worship offered to Him
here. Whatever care may be required to prevent formality
from breeding a neglect of heart religion, there is not the
least reason to suppose that inexact and informal clergy
men, who disregard the rites and ceremonies ordained in
the Church of England, are at all more pious than those
who pay strict attention to them. Nor does the Holy
Bible, with its Divinely ordained ritual of the Old Testa-
THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD. 43
ment, and its Apocalyptic vision of heavenly worship, give
us any ground for supposing that a loose, informal mode
of adoration is more acceptable to God than one which is
in analogy with that revealed at Sinai and Patmos.
As then, the pastor is not a minister to man Ag m ; n j ster .
alone, but also a minister to God; it is a duty ing to God in
. externals as
laid upon him by this latter relation, even well as in-
more than by the former, to minister in all
things as being accountable for the external parts of his
ministration as well as for the internal. He has no right
to act as if the importance of the latter made the former
of no consequence : and the interior results of ministerial
work being so entirely God s work, how indeed can the
clergyman guard its importance if he neglects the outward
and visible part ? how can he be a faithful steward of the
mysteries of God ? In practice, such a principle will lead
to an avoidance of all unseemly hurry, preoccupation, or
carelessness, when engaged about holy work ; as. well as
of any neglect or omission of prescribed forms. Within
this generation I have known of a young clergyman who
boasted that the children he baptized never made any
noise, because he was careful not to let the water he used
touch them. In another case I have known a young squire
and his wife provoked into secession to Rome, in no small
degree, by doubts as to the validity of the Holy Commu
nion as consecrated by their vicar, even after remon
strance, without the imposition of hands directed by the
Prayer Book. Most of us can remember baptisms admi
nistered from a basin placed on the Holy Table (even
when there was a font of stone, according to law) in the
44 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD.
church, hurried and mutilated performance of the Burial
Service, and other careless or indifferent renderings of
Prayer Book institutions. One has seen clergymen so
wearing their official vestments as if they felt it was
beneath them to care whether they were becoming and fit
for the service of God ; or as if there could be no other
reason for wearing them than because the wearer was
ministering before men. But all such things derive an
importance from their connexion with the relation of the
pastor to God which they would not otherwise possess ; and
it is not the extremest minimum of " decency and order "
which is likely to be most acceptable to Him.
To take another example : the faithful pastor
Accuracy t ...
and balance will try to be very faithful in teaching his
people as God s mouthpiece. A suppression of
some manifest truths, an undue exaltation of others, a dis
tortion of revelation to make it fit in with opinion all
this he will religiously avoid, remembering how important
a position he is placed in when he is entrusted with the
declaration, of his Master s will, and that it is essential he
should be able to say, " This is my Master s word to you,
and not only my own invention." Hence, to take an
instance analogous to the class I have selected hitherto for
illustration, he will lead his flock to value fully the grace
which God bestows by visible means. If he were to dwell
much in his discourse with them on the grace which God
bestows by invisible channels, the pastor must necessarily
draw largely upon human theories, his own or those of
other men, seeing that little is said on the subject in Holy
Scripture. And, moreover, although it has probably been
THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD. 45
the will of God to save many souls without a ministry,
without sacraments, and without a written revelation, we
have no reason to think that He will save any without these
when His providence has placed them within their reach.
It has been His will, indeed, at times, to convert men by
visions of Himself, and also to keep up an immediate
communication between Himself and human souls. But
we are certain of this in the present dispensation, that He
has established a mediatorial communication through the
person of our Lord, God and man ; and that ordinary
communion with Him is dependent upon the means or
instruments of grace. Hence, in the " General Thanks
giving " at Morning and Evening Prayer, we offer thanks
to God for (1) " Thine inestimable love in the redemption
of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ :" (2) for " the means
of grace " by which that redemption is presented to our
individual souls : and (3) for " the hope of glory " which
is given to the world by redemption, and which we our
selves have, by our personal interest in redemption, obtained
by the means of grace. It seems especially necessary in
our day, both for the glory of God and the good of souls,
that while all antinomianism should be strictly guarded
against, yet it should be constantly and unreservedly
declared that men are saved and built up in holiness, not
solely or chiefly even by their own efforts of moral dis
cipline, but by God s work in the soul through the bestowal
of grace : but, of course, this is only one illustration out of
many that might be used, of the necessity for preserving a
steady and Scriptural balance in our teaching : declaring
the "whole counsel" of God, and not a part thereof,
46 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD.
regarding the "analogy" of the faith, and "rightly
dividing the word of truth."
Another of the duties incumbent upon one
Persevering brought into so close relation to Christ is un-
duigence,
flagging diligence in the work wherein he acts
as the deputy of the Good Shepherd. I mean, here, not
so much that kind of work which is usually in people s
minds when they speak of a clergyman s activity, and
which will come under notice subsequently, but rather
that indicated by the ordination question, " Will you be
diligent in prayers, and in reading of the Holy Scriptures,
and in such studies as help to the knowledge of the same,
laying aside the study of the world and the flesh ?" Nor
is it my intention to speak of personal or private prayers
at present, though too much could not be said of their
necessity to the pastor in promoting his personal holiness.
But the subject of this section makes it essential for me to
draw the reader s attention to that diligence
prayers 18 " 1 in official prayers which is imposed upon the
pastor as one of the chief duties belonging to
his position as a representative of that Chief Shepherd
"who ever liveth to make intercession for us," His flock.
And as it will be well to take a general survey of the con
siderations which belong to the subject of constant official
prayers, it will be necessary to introduce some remarks
here which would otherwise have been more properly
relegated to the chapter in which the pastor s relation to
his flock is to be brought under notice. I will therefore pro
ceed to consider the question of Daily Church Services as a
whole, i. e. in reference to God, the pastor, and the people.
THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD. 47
. Daily Church Services.
1. It is due to God that a continual offering
Tlicir rcli"
of praise and prayer should be made to Him by tion to God.
the Church in its official capacity as well as by
individuals in their personal or household devotions : and
this continual offering has been defined practically by
"The Order for Morning and Evening Prayer, Daily
throughout the Year," which is the title of our ordinary
public services. This duty of the Church is fulfilled in its
primary degree by the Cathedrals, each of which re
presents the centre from which Divine worship radiates
around, as the bishop represents the centre of pastoral
responsibility and labour. But, as the cathedral and the
bishop are the religious centre of the diocese, so the parish
church and the parochial clergyman are of that portion of
the diocese which is allotted to them : and it certainly
seems expedient and right, if not so absolutely essential as
in the case of the cathedral, that God s honour should be
as constantly recognized by formal acts of Divine worship
in every parish. " Day by day we magnify Thee."
2. This has ever been the principle on which
the Divine worship of the Church of Eng- Enjoined by
... the Church
land has been founded; and a positive in- of England.
junction on the subject is accordingly in
serted in the beginning of the Prayer Book. The title
of the services which I have already referred to, is ex
panded in the previous page of the Prayer Book into
" The Order for Morning and Evening Prayer, daily to
be said and used throughout the year," and it is directed
48 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD.
that this "Order" shall be used "in the accustomed
place," &c. A more direct injunction is placed at the
end of the short explanation " concerning the Service of
the Church," which is placed after the Preface in our
modern Prayer Books. There it is distinctly ordered that
" the curate," or person having cure of souls, " that minis-
tereth in every parish church or chapel, being at home,
and not being otherwise reasonably hindered, shall say
the " Morning and Evening Prayer " in the parish church
or chapel where he ministereth, and shall cause a bell to
be tolled thereunto a convenient time before he begin,
that the people may come to hear God s Word, and to
pray with him." This law of the Church of England
is so clear and express that it is strange to find how
generally it has been set aside by custom 6 . Yet the
practice has been continuously recognized as a
holy clergy- matter of course by many excellent clergymen
mnat aU in every generation. When Bishop Wilson
was ordained deacon, in 1686, he received a
paper of advice from Archdeacon Hewitson, in which he
is enjoined "never to miss the Church s public devotions
twice a day, when unavoidable business, want of health,
or of a church, as in travelling, does not hinder." Among
Five and twenty years ago there were only three parish churches in
England in which the Morning and Evening Prayer were both said daily
throughout the year. At the present time there are thirty-six such
churches in London alone, besides twenty -eight others, in which one of the
services is used daily. There are about one thousand churches opened daily
for public prayer throughout England; and the practical value of the
custom is shown by the continual increase in number of the clergy who
adopt it.
THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD. 49
Archbishop Sancroft s MSS., in the Bodleian Library,
I have observed a letter from Dr. Grenville, when Arch
deacon of Durham, urging the necessity for a general
revival of " daily prayers in parish churches, and weekly
communion, at least, in cathedrals;" the latter of which
customs was indeed restored mainly by Dean Grenville s
exertions 7 . Good Archdeacon Basire also, when he was
making a calendar for the division of his time after his
return from exile in 1670, set out :
"Residence at Stanhope, above 3 moneths. 100 days.
Residence at Eaglescliffe, 3 moneths. 90 days.
Dayly publick prayers, and constant sermons, in both
every Sunday and Holy Day V
Somewhat earlier than this we read of Ferrar, in 1630,
that "he being accompanied with most of his family,
did himself use to read the common prayers (for he was
a deacon) every day, at the appointed hours of ten and
four, in the parish church V And good George Herbert s
own practice " was to appear constantly with his wife and
three nieces (the daughters of a deceased sister), and his
whole family, twice every day at the church prayers, in
the chapel which does almost join to his parsonage-house l ."
Later on we find Bishop Patrick (16911707) a great
advocate for the same habit; and also Bishop Lany of
Ely (1667 1675), who writes, "Our service is a con-
7 There is a very interesting collection of Dean Grenville s MSS., which
was discovered in the Bodleian, in 1860, and has not yet been published,
in which there is much correspondence on the subject.
8 See Surtees Society s Life of Basire.
9 Herbert s Remains, vol. i. p. 65. Ibid. p. 55.
E
50 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD.
timral daily sacrifice, a morning and evening prayer ; and
though the greatest benefit of this belongs to those that
daily attend it, yet being it is the public sacrifice of the
Church, all that are members of that have their part and
interest in it, though they be absent, yet not in an equal
measure. The present are intituled to the benefit of a
sacrifice offered by them ; the absent, as a sacrifice offered
for them. For this is our eternum sacrificium, that is per
petually burning upon the altar for the service of God,
and in behalf of every member of the Church, that doth
not ponere obicem, set a bar upon himself, by his wilful
neglect of it, or by his opposition to it." Very similar
was the Charge given by Bishop Hooper, of Bath and
Wells, to his clergy some forty years later; and many
references to the practice are to be found in other
charges of that date. There is, too, an old "Letter of
Advice to all the Members of the Church of England to
come to the Divine Service, Morning and Evening, every
day," of the date 1704 2 , which shows that the laity, as well
as the clergy, knew the advantage of constant public
prayers. " The gentlemen of Clifford s Inn," it states,
" in the parish of St. Dunstan s in the West," set a pious
example to the public in their constant attendance at the
daily prayers of the Church ; and ten years later, in 1714,
when the population of the metropolis was about one-sixth
of what it now is, there were seventy- five churches open
daily for divine service 3 . It was, probably, when the
2 There is an original copy in Cambridge Public Library, B 6 9 41 ;
but it has been rcpublished recently.
3 With its modern three millions of people London has only sixty-four
churches open daily.
THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD. 51
custom of daily prayer was beginning to die out of our
parishes that Dr. William Best wrote, and the Christian
Knowledge Society published, his excellent "Essay on
the Service of the Church of England considered as a
Daily Service," which is still on the list of that Society s
publications. I have put together these few instances
of regard for the practice to show that good men at all
times have considered Daily Divine Service to be the
rule of the Church of England ; and few as they are they
offer indications (which might be much multiplied) that it
was more commonly used than it has been of late years
by the pious clergy 4 .
3. Which leads me to observe that it is most probable
many of our pious clergy in the present day have failed
sufficiently to consider this law of the Church as intended
partly for their own spiritual advantage in their work as
pastors of Christ s flock. That such an ad-
Thcir spin-
Vantage is supposed by the Church is evident tual value to
from the paragraph which precedes the rule or
law I have already quoted from the Introductory part of
the Prayer Book, "And all priests and deacons are to
say daily the Morning and Evening Prayer, either
privately or openly, not being let by sickness, or some
other urgent cause." This paragraph enjoins the daily
service of the Church as a duty on the clergy, as the one
which we have previously had under consideration pro
vides for the people having the full benefit of it. Bishop
4 There are many endowments for daily service scattered over the
country. The money is too often received, and the duty neglected.
E 2
52 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD.
Cosin writes on this paragraph, " We are also bound . . .
daily to repeat and say the public service of the Church.
And it is a precept the most useful and necessary of any
others that belong to the ministers of God, and such as
have the cure of other men s souls ;" and most writers on
the Prayer Book have considered this rule to be strictly
binding on the clergy 5 . The advantages of the practice,
5 I will repeat here an opinion which I have elsewhere ventured to ex
press, that the clergy are not bound by this injunction to a solitary
recitation of the service in their own studies, if there is not public service
in Church. The provisions respecting the daily service are three :
(1) If said privately, it may be said in any language understood by
those who say it.
All the clergy are to say it privately or openly, if not lawfully
hindered.
It is to be said in every parish church or chapel, by every clergyman
having cure of souls.
The second and third of these provisions were not printed in the first
English Prayer Book, but instead of them there was this clause, that no
man shall be bound to the saying of daily prayers, " but such as, from time
to time, in cathedral and collegiate churches, parish churches and chapels,
to the same annexed, shall serve the congregation." In 1541 there was
issued " An Explanation of Ceremonies to be used in the Church of Eng
land," in which it is said, "It is laudable and convenient, that (except
sickness, or any other reasonable impediment, or let) every bishop, priest,
and others having orders, and continuing in their administration, shall daily
say divine service ; . . . . and such as are bishops and priests, divers times
to say mass." Now, in 1541 solitary masses had certainly been abolished,
so that the " mass," here enjoined, must mean the holy communion of the
Reformed Church, celebrated and administered in public; and the "daily
divine service " is plainly put on the same footing.
The word "privately" was introduced into the second English edition
of the Prayer Book, and appears to refer to the first of the three provisions
above quoted. From the history of these provisions, then, it appears to
me that the word does not refer to a solitary recitation of a responsive
service ; and that it probably does refer to the use of the Prayer Book in
college and domestic chapels, which were then very numerous.
THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD. 53
of which I am here writing more than of the obligation,
are only to be learned perfectly by experience ; but I will
suggest some of them as they have appeared to myself,
and as I have known them to be felt by others.
It is no small benefit to the pastor that he may thus
come into God s house before he begins the responsible
duties of the day to lay a foundation for them in the strong
ground of the authorized service of the sanctuary : or
again, that when those duties of the day are over he may
bring them, as it were, to the altar of God, there to offer
them to Him by crowning them with holy worship. He
will thus grow into a habit of seeking and finding strength
to begin the toil of the day, and repose after its wearing
anxieties and excitements. The constant services of God s
house have power, more than any private home devotions,
to form a solid and devout habit of mind in the clergy
man, guarding him from worldliness, and stirring up in
him, day by day, the gift of God which is in him by the
laying on of hands. They offer a constant and prevailing
means of intercession for his flock, and the Church at
large. While individual persons of his charge will need
special prayer, in these he offers his general supplications
for all : and in a town parish of great extent how much
comfort may the hardest-working clergyman feel from
thus bringing day by day before God in something more
than his personal prayers, all those who are under his
charge, but whom he tries in vain, from their very
numbers, to know. Nor is it of small importance that in
the midst of that isolation from his brethren which is
almost the necessary consequence of diligent work in a
54 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD.
parish, these constant prayers give to a clergyman a deep
sense of spiritual union with the rest of the Church, which
goes far to counteract it. Lastly, a constant use of the
daily services deepens the clergyman s knowledge and
spiritual understanding of Holy Scripture, and of the
principles of the Church in which he ministers to God and
men : and thus puts the keystone to his daily studies as
well as to his daily pastoral labours in the streets and lanes
of his parish. The varied combination of Lesson and
Psalm often opens out Divine truth in a marvellous
manner ; and by their repetition month after month, the
Psalms, especially, are ingrained into the pastor s mind
for use in sermons and private ministrations with a force
that can hardly otherwise be gained : so that he is led to
enter thoroughly into that devotional application of them
which has caused the Psalms to be taken as the central
pillar of a worship acceptable to God and good for the
souls of men for nearly three thousand years. Thus,
besides his own spiritual advantage, the pastor will bo
continually under training, as it may be said, by the ser
vices of the Church, to fit him for the effectual discharge
of his duties.
T , . , . . 4. Moreover, as this constant official dili-
tual value to gence in prayers is of advantage to the flock
the flock. . I, -IT ,.,. .
indirectly through the grace which it gams lor
their pastor, so will it always be found to be of practical
benefit to the parish in a more direct manner. The very
sound of the church bells morning and evening is a warn
ing voice to remind men that religion should have a place
in daily life. Very much of the work of the Church con-
THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD. 55
sists of this persistent warning to men, "whether they
will hear or whether they will forbear," that their souls
and bodies are part of the kingdom of God in which they
have duties to do, and in which they will find grace, if
they seek it, whereby those duties may be done. The
Church cannot relieve men of their individual respon
sibility, but day by day her warning voice goes forth
to them, bidding each conscience to remember that there is
a work of God as well as a work of man to be accomplished
every day. And although, at first, there may be some
who will sneeringly vent their vexation at such warnings,
and say, " Your church bells are continually clanging," it
will not be long before they learn to respect the summons,
though unable or unwilling to attend the service 6 :
" And many a Christian heart o er whom the strain
At matins or at evensong is falling,
Gives back within its own cahn depths again
A holier echo for love s voice is calling."
As, too, the persistent public devotion of the Church
in the midst of the world is a warning to the parish, so I
cannot but think that it is a channel by which the secular
work of that parish is, so far as it is good, offered to God
day by day, and His presence drawn down to sanctify the
camp by its manifestation in the tabernacle.
5. As far as my experience of four parishes goes, and
my observation of many others in both towns and villages,
there will always be some few persons to form a congrega-
6 See some practical remarks on the use of a peal of bells for Daily and
Sunday Services in the Appendix B.
56 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD.
tion. As many as possible of the clergyman s household
will, at least, be there to use the daily prayers of the
sanctuary instead of those breakfast- table devotions which
have come to be an easy substitute for them 7 . To mention
good George Herbert again, his biographer Isaac Walton
says that not only his own family used constantly to
accompany him to the Church prayers, but " he brought
most of his parishioners and many gentlemen in the
neighbourhood constantly to make part of his congregation
twice a day : and some of the meaner sort of his parish
did so love and reverence Mr. Herbert that they would let
their plough rest when Mr. Herbert s saints bell rung to
prayers, that they might also offer their devotions to God
with him ; and then return back to their plough 8 ." In
these days, ploughs, hammers, and shuttles work too un
ceasingly for labourers and artisans to follow the example
of the ploughmen of the 17th century, but there are many
persons of quite as much leisure in our time as in George
Herbert s who both can and will find time to attend.
Professional men and others in London are constantly to
be seen at the early daily service at Westminster Abbey,
at the Temple Church, and at some parish churches : and
T It is worthy of observation tbat all collections of family prayers which
are not compiled by actual dissenters, derive their inspiration from the
Prayer Book.
8 Herbert s Life and Works, vol. i. p. 56. At a much later period, the
same thing is recorded of another parish. Whitfield was for a short time
curate of Dummer in Hampshire during the absence of the rector, and he
found among other illustrations of pastoral diligence, that the children were
daily catechised, and that young and old daily attended public prayers in
the morning before going to work, and hi the evening on returning from it.
This was in 1736.
THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD. 57
there are aged and infirm people every where, both in
town and country, to whom continual attendance is a habit
which brings them comfort and grace 9 . I have known
an official gentleman for many years whose constant custom
it has been to take the morning prayers on his way to the
railway station whence he travelled ten miles, from one
north country town to another where his daily business
was waiting for him. At the same service every day
might be seen a lady about ninety years of age, who used
to walk from her house, nearly a mile distant, with the
most unfailing punctuality day after day to her pew in
the gallery. The same regular attendance may often be
observed in country villages : and I think many clergymen
who have gained practical experience in this matter will
corroborate the assertion that a punctual service will never
fail in finding at the least two or three met together in
the name of Christ to offer up to God their daily praises
and prayers. Of the attendance of children I have spoken
in the chapter on schools, and will only say here, that it
has been found to produce very happy results both in some
who have been early taken to their rest, and in others who
have grown up in grace to maturer years.
One or two objections to daily service, which
Some objec-
have not been met by the course of my pleading tions an-
in its favour, may be considered before parting
with the subject.
9 There is an old world proverb " After the longest day comes Evensong,"
a version of "Man goeth forth to his work and to his labour until the
evening:."
58 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOtt TO GOD.
First, there is its length, and the time that is conse
quently occupied l . At the utmost this need not exceed
three-quarters of an hour, and that length will only be
reached by a rather slow choral service, or very slow
reading. If the time taken up is ordinarily within half
an hour, it will be sufficient however for a reverent and
intelligible rendering of the service, which very slow
reading seldom is. But there is room for doubt, whether
it was ever intended that a daily parochial service should
consist of all the prayers that are used. For a short time
after the compilation of the first English Prayer Book,
the Morning Service began with the Lord s Prayer, and
ended with the third collect; and the Evening Prayer
maintained this limited form until 1662, as any old Prayer
Book will show. The present rubric requires all after
the third collect to be said when there is an anthem, but
not otherwise ; and the " prayers and thanksgivings upon
several occasions " are what their name signifies, and what
it signified more plainly when the word "occasional"
meant only "as occasion may require," which was its
meaning at the time the title in question was inserted.
I cannot but think that the abbreviations thus indicated
might be legitimately introduced with great advantage in
many churches; and that they would enable clergymen
to offer daily prayers to God there, who might otherwise
1 This objection is often raised on serious grounds. Yet I have found
in one or two villages, that an occasional five or ten minutes exposition
of one of the Lessons was very acceptable to the congregation in the even
ing ; and at least one week-day evening " Lecture " is looked for in town
churches.
THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD. 59
feel that, single-handed, such a task was beyond their
powers ".
It is also urged that domestic duties prevent the at
tendance of any but the unoccupied members of a family.
But with a good will, much of this difficulty would pass
away. As far as the clergy are concerned, it is their
duty to offer the service to all, and to point out the prin
ciple laid down with respect to the attendance of the laity
in the fifteenth Canon.
Lastly, I have heard some of the daily lessons made an
objection to the daily services; and I confess to having
an insurmountable objection to reading in public, and
before young people, some of the lessons ordered by the
calendar. There are those who defend the calendar as it
stands, on the ground that all Scripture is God s Word,
and that no harm can come from the reading of that
which is so sacred. I confess that I can see no good
which can arise from the public reading to a congregation,
composed principally perhaps of young persons, of such
lessons as Bel and the Dragon 3 , or Leviticus xviii., Deut.
xxii., xxv., and a few other such chapters. "Whatever good
reason there might be originally for the public use of
these Scriptures, reasons have sprung up in later times
why we should hesitate to speak in such language in the
hearing of young people even in church. In certain
2 The subject may be found dealt with at greater length, by the present
writer, in the " Ecclesiastic," vol. xx. p. 114.
3 It is a fact that a man was once sent into a fit of loud and uncon
trollable laughter, although he was honestly preparing for holy orders, by
hearing this lesson for the first time, in the chapel of a Theological College.
60 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD.
cases, Gen. ix. and xix., the final verses are carefully ex
cluded from Sunday reading, as is also Deut. xxiii. from
the daily lessons, and surely the careful pastor may adopt
the same rule on his own authority in the daily service,
and leave out some of those Old Testament chapters in
which things are spoken of which it is not now the
custom to mention except with the extremest reserve
and modesty 4 .
I am not aware that there are any other objections
which need to be mentioned, and will conclude my re
marks on this subject by expressing a fervent hope that
a habit, so calculated to give tone to a pastor s labours,
and to sanctify them among his people, may grow more
and more common among us, until it has become the
practical rule, as well as the theoretical law of our Church,
that Morning and Evening Prayer shall be said daily in
parish churches throughout the land.
4 To understand the immense change in this matter since the Re
formation, one must be acquainted with the Homilies. Such portions as the
comment on the conduct of Noah and Lot, in the Homily on Gluttony
and Drunkenness, could not possibly be preached in these days.
Application was once made to Bishop Blomfield, by a London clergyman
who is now a bishop himself, for permission to substitute other chapters for
these lessons. The Bishop of London could not officially grant that per
mission, of course; but, no doubt, most bishops would in reality approve
of such substitution. It is not " squeamishncss," but a consideration for
the good of souls, which makes many clergymen of experience in the use of
daily services feel the necessity for it, and act accordingly. I may add,
that the omitted chapters may be balanced by taking into account those
which are superseded on Sundays and Holydays by proper lessons. Tims,
if February llth be a Wednesday, and Leviticus the eighteenth is to be left
unread, if the Evening first lesson is substituted, and the following chapters
of the calendar taken in order, the numbers of the days and chapters will
again come together correctly on Monday the 16th.
THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD. 61
. Diligence in Study.
It is a too generally received dictum among the clergy
of this active period, that a pastor who does his duty
thoroughly in church and parish can have little or no
time for study ; that other and higher duties press upon
them, which demand that they should put away reading as
soon as it is no longer necessary for the purpose of passing
college or ordination examinations. Some even seem to
think that study is a luxury, to which neither young
curate nor middle-aged rector has a right, so long as there
are souls starving around them for which they are held
responsible. The consequence is, that we are fast train
ing up a body of clergymen who are incompetent to
be leaders of the laity in an age of highly developed
intellect and widely-spread knowledge : men of the most
superficial theological learning, who have scarcely gained
a new idea from books since they put their college texts
on the shelf. Hence we have so much dogmatizing, and
so little demonstration, a characteristic of the clergy most
haplessly unfitted for the age M T e live in. It is not
sufficient for clergymen who have to teach a generation
very open to scepticism till it is taught faith, that they
should be strong in authorities gathered out of clerical
newspapers, but very weak in those which require to be
mined out from the foundation strata of history, and
sound and solid theological writers. Superficiality of this
kind is easily detected, and God s representative loses
weight as a teacher with those who ought to sit listen-
62 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD.
ing at the feet of him whose " lips should keep know
ledge."
It is a positive duty which every pastor owes to God,
that he should keep himself fit by means of study, con
stant, diligent study, for the work which is set before
him. Hours so employed are not lost time, even when
he is surrounded in his parish and in his church, only
by the poor ; for a man really learned in the Scriptures
not a mere text-learner will be able to give far more
profitable spiritual instruction to them than one who
draws upon the knowledge acquired in his undergraduate
days, or upon fleeting publications, or upon sermons at so
much a volume written for the clerical market. Shallow
habits of reading, whether they are or are not accom
panied by diligence in active work, must inevitably lessen
the breadth and completeness of a clergyman s views.
They strengthen the tendency there is among us to party
feeling and cliqueism. Opinions are formed, not on a
good firm ground of independent knowledge, but on the
second-hand account which their favourite journal or
review gives of those held by their favourite party leader,
Dr. This, or Archdeacon That ; who have the misfortune,
perhaps, to be set forward as " leaders " against their
will, only because there are numbers of young clergy
who, if they are not " led," must flounder in a theological
slough of despond. Very miserable is this cliqueism
among the ranks of the clergy, and a great hindrance
to the steady, irresistible, combined progress of the
Church in the great pastoral work of the age. Great
party divisions can hardly be expected to cease ; but they
THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD. 63
do not involve a loss of charity, or of general com
bination. It is cliqueism which really breaks up the
bonds of charity ; and few observant men will differ from
me when I express a strong opinion that it is produced
in our own day by a want of original knowledge in the
clergy, arising from the superficiality and second-hand
character of their reading.
Diligence in study, then, especially in a real, steady
study of the Holy Scriptures, is necessary to the clergy,
both with respect to their position as teachers sent by God
to declare His truth and will, and also as a discipline and
safeguard for themselves in an age of noisy controversy.
By the neglect of it a pastor will become weak in his
sermons, his bedside expositions, and his colloquial inter
course with his parishioners ; and will possess an un
balanced mind always ready to be carried away by every
wind of doctrine. Much even of his hardest parish labours
will be in vain, perhaps, through this weakness : and instead
of his parishioners acquiring a spiritual gain by his con
stant absence from his books that he may be present with
them, they will suffer a positive loss by only receiving at
their pastor s lips knowledge of the smallest value, when
they ought to have received that which would make them
truly wise, by giving them the truth about God, them
selves, and the things of God s kingdom.
Let the pastor, therefore, look upon diligent reading as
a duty which he owes to God, as the only means by which
he can keep his intellectual faculties ever in such a con
dition that they may be worthily dedicated to His service.
And let him pray with good Bishop Wilson, " Give me a
64 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD.
discerning spirit, a sound judgment, and an honest and
religious heart, that in all my studies my first aim may be
to set forth Thy glory by setting forth the salvation of
men."
. Personal Holiness.
The reader will have mistaken my intention very much,
if he has thought that it was my purpose so to exalt the
official practice of a pastor s duty as to leave out of sight
the necessity of personal holiness. On the contrary, I
believe that the warning words of the Apostle St. Paul
ought to be endorsed on every official act of the pastor,
" lest that by any means, when I have preached to others,
I myself should be a castaway." In considering the re
lation between the pastor and God, I have necessarily
confined myself principally to those particulars in which
it differed from the relation between ordinary Christians
and God ; and as it has not fallen within the province of
this work hitherto to enlarge on the necessity of Christian
holiness in ordained Christians, so now it will only be my
duty to point out in what manner the absence of a greater
degree of holiness than that looked for in God s Aaoc
becomes sinful in those who are ordained, and set apart
as God s KArjjOoe.
The official relation established between God and the
pastor is, in fact, so close that it cannot be said a clergy
man can look on himself as at any time free to act with
the same liberty that may be lawfully used by a layman.
It is true that the Holy Ghost is given for the work of a
THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD. 65
priest, and not for the purpose of personal sanctification :
and that since, therefore, the Divine presence is vouch
safed for the priest s official acts, the person so endowed
only stands in exceptionally close relation to God while
engaged in those acts. But this is a dangerous argument :
all the more dangerous, perhaps, because of the element of
truth which it contains. The presence-chamber of a
sovereign would not be knowingly and wilfully used by a
loyal subject with the same freedom as an ordinary room,
even in the absence from it of the sovereign s person : and
any disloyal act, even at such a time, would seem doubly
disloyal because it was done in a place which had so close
an occasional relation to the person whom it dishonoured.
As, therefore, ordinary Christians have been warned from
the first that in defiling their bodies by sin, they defile
those " lively stones " of which the temple of the Holy
Ghost is built up, so, much more, must it be considered
that he to whom it has been in addition definitely said,
" Receive the Holy Ghost," is bound by the relation thus
established between himself and the all-holy God to regard
himself as obliged ipso facto to a reverend and holy
life.
Keeping strictly, therefore, to the object of this chapter,
it must still be concluded that personal holiness is part
of the official duty of a pastor. Lustrations were necessary
for those who ministered at the altar of the Temple which
were not needed for ordinary worshippers there : and
" keep thyself pure " was the exhortation of the Christian
Apostle to his beloved son in the faith, the Christian bishop
Timothy. And to His pastors, of all other men, is the
F
66 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD.
Good Shepherd in His immaculate holiness set forth as an
example.
It must be a pastor s care to guard himself against
doing his work in such a manner that it brings no benefit
to his own soul : to use much scrutiny, much prayer for
himself, much self-discipline with reference to the exe
cution of his duties ; to be in continual anxiety, that while
God s tool is doing His work in moulding the souls of men
for heaven, it may be sanctified by the position which it
holds in the Almighty hand; that when its work as a
tool is laid aside, its substance may still be of such value
in the Master s sight, that it may be placed among His
treasures beside the work which it has wrought.
CHAPTER III.
THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK.
THE principles which I have endeavoured to elucidate
hitherto lead on to the conclusion that the foundation of
all pastoral work is to be laid not on earth and in human
relations, but within the veil, before the throne of God,
where only an anchorage sure and stedfast can be found.
If God is the worker on whom our work is to depend, let
us secure His operation as the very first necessity. He
will bless activity and diligence in all the various branches
of pastoral work, but we must take care, above all things,
not to rely on the activity and diligence of our own efforts
until we have made sure of that presence of the infinitely
mightier Master- worker whose grace alone can regenerate
and build up a parish.
A practical recognition of this conclusion will lead us to
look to the constant service of God, spoken of in the last
chapter, by prayers and the Eucharistic avajuvjjertc (the
latter of which is reserved for future mention), as the real
ground of a pastor s own operations in his parish. The
active-minded and energetic clergyman is under great
temptation to self-reliance ; as if his labours in schools,
F 2
68 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK.
parochial institutions, visiting the poor, and every thing
else of the kind which he very properly applies himself to
with all his heart, were of high value in themselves irre
spectively of their relation to the house of God and the
altar. He needs to guard himself against such a tempta
tion by often reminding himself that the spiritual value of
all such work is to be measured by the closeness of its
connexion with the presence of Christ, the Good Shep
herd ; and that His presence is as certain in the Christian s
sanctuary, as the presence of the God of Israel was in the
Shechinah over the mercy-seat. To sanctify the camp
then by gaining that presence, to gain it by constant
praise, prayer, and Eucharist, is not a work separate from
pastoral work, and the relations of a pastor to his flock,
for which a busy clergyman may reasonably plead that he
has no time. It is the first and most important part of
his labours as relating to his people, the very key-stone to
all other portions of his system : and without it all those
various parts will sooner or later collapse from inherent
weakness. We dig and plough and toil in vain, except
Heaven shall send rain upon the earth. We labour fruit
lessly among streets and lanes and schools, except we send
up the incense of prayer from the altar of God, to draw
down the answer of His fructifying grace.
With these few words of preliminary safeguard we may
now go on to consider the position of the minister of God
as minister to God s people.
The fundamental principles on which the
of paftorai 1P relation between pastor and flock is founded,
relations, are ^ Q ^ e traced to the general relation which
THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK. 69
fallen and redeemed man bears to God. Men are placed
on probation in a state of free will, having evil and good
external to them, which they have the power to identify
with themselves by the grace of God on the one hand, and
the (j>povr]fjia <Ta/oKoc on the other. But since the first Fall it
has never been a part of God s Providence to leave men to
their own personal and uninfluenced guidance in this state
of trial : and since the mediatorial work of Christ has
originated substantial " means " of grace, it has become,
not less, but more, a part of that Providence that there
should be agents or ministers of God to help, guide, and
discipline them.
Superadded to this is the human institution of andtheparo-
the parochial system, upon the history of which chial s J" stem -
it is not necessary to enlarge, but which may be broadly
defined as an organization by which the souls comprised
within a certain topographical limit are assigned to the
special pastoral charge of one agent or minister of Christ.
All pastoral functions centring in the bishop, and his
diocese or TrapoiKia being too extensive to permit the per
sonal exercise of those functions to all under his charge,
the lower portions of those functions are committed by
him to those to whom he officially says, " Accept this cure
of souls, my cure and thine :" and a certain defined limit is
assigned as a parish within which those delegated functions
are to be exercised by the deputy pastor or parish priest.
The human institution, then, the legal rela- T>
Beneficial
tion of a clergyman to his parishioners by which endowments
his right to exercise his office is confined to them of pastoral
alone, is closely connected with the spiritual relatlons -
70 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK.
relation to the laity at large which is established by ordi
nation : and the solemn act by which cure of souls is
handed over to the ordained priest when he becomes a
responsible pastor is such as to give the spiritual a decided
preponderance over the human institution in the relation
established. In the occupation of a benefice, living, or
incumbency (as the terms are indifferently used), the
clergyman s right to the " temporalities " or legal endow
ment, is but an accident of his position, and not (as too
often regarded) the essential part of it. But the really
essential part is, that a relation of responsibility is esta
blished on both sides, for which both will be accountable
to God : a responsibility which may well make good men
look upon their institution with feelings of prayerful awe,
as it is said George Herbert did, and be full of anxiety
that their conduct as " curates " of men s souls may be
such as may, by the mercy of God, give them " boldness
in the day of judgment."
This principle of responsibility remains equally in force
whether the benefice with which it is connected provides
the holder of it with less than a bare maintenance for him
self, or whether it be one of 2000/. a year. But
But yet a J
quid pro there is also another view of this responsibility,
which, though a lower one, must not be passed
over. Where the endowment of a living is such as to pro
vide the pastor with ample means of sustenance, he is
bound by the ordinary laws of honesty and honour which
protect and govern social life to give a full equivalent for
such provision in personal labour, and, if necessary, by the
employment of assistants to do what is beyond the reach
THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK. 71
of a single clergyman s power. Non-residence can never
become so common as it was a few generations back, but
great liberties are still taken by the clergy in absenting
themselves from their parishes, and there is a kind of
non-effective residence to be found not unfrequently, which
is almost as contrary to the spirit of the relation between
the pastor and his flock as non-residence itself. It seems to
be thought by some of the richer clergy that the very
wealth of their benefices is a reason why they should not
be " working clergy." They are often to be found living
so much away from home, or holding so little intercourse
with their people, that they know next to nothing of the
individual spiritual condition of any of the souls committed
to their charge : and the whole practical work of their
pastorate is done by one or more assistants. The result is,
as far as the benefice is concerned, that after deducting
the sum paid to these assistants, and subscriptions to local
institutions, the holder of it deals with the remainder of
his ecclesiastical income as if it proceeded from a private
estate in land or in the funds, instead of regarding it as a
stipend (paid by means of tithe or other endowment) for
labour to be given in exchange, and for an actual respon
sibility undertaken. The minds of the laity revolt at this
as a misapplication of church endowments; although,
perhaps, the clergyman who thus acts is the last person in
his parish to hear of what is said and felt on the subject.
Nor is it to be wondered at that such a course should be
objected to ; for without looking at the spiritual effects
produced, it must be regarded from a secular point of
view as a breach of contract, and in any secular
72 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK.
profession it would ultimately lead to a forfeiture of tlie
stipend.
These two grounds, then, the first, that a cure
Spiritual
basis of pas- of souls has been solemnly committed to him
tion. by the bishop on behalf and in the name of
the Chief Shepherd ; and the second, that a
Temporal
basis of the contract ensues ipso facto between the beneficed
clergyman and his parishioners, form the basis
of the relation between a pastor and his flock : and the
first by itself is of such a character that even if the second
be absent the general obligation remains from the very
nature of their relative position.
In the present day the situation of a clergyman placed
in the position of a pastor acting under these two con
tracts, the spiritual and the temporal, is in some respects
easier, and in some more difficult than it was formerly.
It becomes very difficult in those cases where the popu
lation has increased to so disproportionate an extent, that
the relation between pastor and flock becomes scarcely
more than nominal. Many anxious thoughts will come
into the mind of a conscientious clergyman, so situated, as
to the real extent of his responsibilities towards the un
known hundreds, or perhaps thousands of his parish ;
and such thoughts should take effect on his life and
practice by leading him to use his best endeavours to
bring the relation between himself and his people into
such a form as is in accordance with the theory on which
it is founded. A large and well-endowed benefice may,
perhaps, be so divided by his exertions, that it becomes
transformed into parishes of a manageable extent, each
THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK. 73
provided with a sufficient endowment ; as was done by
Dr. Hook at Leeds in the course of his many years
ministry tliere. Or if the benefice is a poor one, it is
not unlikely that some of the wealthy proprietors within
its bounds may be aroused to a sense of responsibility,
and persuaded to provide additional clergymen. There
are also societies in London, and local ones for most
dioceses, whose assistance may be secured towards the
same object. Every effort should be made to provide so
many clergy in large and populous parishes, that there
may be at least one to every thousand of the parishioners ;
and efforts of a like kind to provide church accommodation
of sufficient extent, and within easy reach of the various
portions of the parish. In the practical working of his
parish he will also endeavour to economize labour by
method and arrangement, for the purpose of making it
as far effective as possible ; for there is a great deal of
bustling work in large parishes, and small ones too, of
a very unproductive character, but which occupies the
time and thoughts of clergymen to the effectual ex
clusion of other work of a much more real and practical
nature.
Nor is the increase of population the only difficulty
in the way of modern pastoral labours ; for the progress
of education and the development of intellect have laid
men open to the knowledge of evil as well as good ;
and the town clergyman who really knows the subjects of
his charge is almost sure to meet with much scepticism,
more or less fully developed, against which it should
be his anxious endeavour to oppose the force of Church
74 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK.
teaching and influences. On the other hand, the surface
of general morality and religion has risen to a much
higher level than in the last or preceding centuries, so
that open profligacy and irreligion are discouraged by
society at large as well as by the clergy, and public
opinion runs, to no small distance, parallel with that of
the Church of God.
But, whatever there may be in the condition of our
parishes to facilitate the work of modern clergy, God
has laid upon them a great responsibility through the
character of the age in which they work; and every
thoroughly efficient pastor must have his qualifications
written in such words as "Scientia magna, niemoria
major, judicium maximum, at industria infinita."
. The Clergyman s bearing in dealing with his people.
In looking to the great example of the pastoral cha
racter, there will be found certain prominent features of
general attractiveness which seem to indicate the pattern
to be striven after by His servants in their dealings with
those under their charge. These features are (1) Sym
pathy, (2) Approachableness, (3) Readiness to help, (4)
Condescension to infirmities.
The expression or manifestation of sympathy
Sympathy. ,
depends very much on constitution, some per
sons being much more reserved than others ; but its
presence depends chiefly upon "heart" and love. Unless
a clergyman has heart in his work he can never engage
in it in such a manner as to be en rapport with his people,
either in respect to their bodily or their spiritual troubles.
THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK. 75
But the very first essential towards winning the love of
a flock is to be well imbued with the spirit of love for
souls in general, and for those committed to one s charge
in particular. A hard, dry, business-like way of doing
pastoral work may win the respect of the people for their
pastor, as a man desirous of doing his duty at all cost
or inconvenience to himself; but there must be some
manifestation of that kind of sympathy which the Good
Shepherd showed so plainly, if the further influence which
may be gained by the addition of love to respect is to
be attained. It has often been observed that the strongest
men are the most gentle and tender in handling the
wounded on a field of battle. Something of a strong
tenderness there should be in every pastor when he goes
forth to work among souls wounded by the wear and
tear of the world, by affliction, or by sin; something
of a sympathy which conies from real heart, and has
much power over the person exercising it, but is yet
so far under his control that he can command the mani
festation of it, and use it wisely for the good of those who
need it.
The clergyman ought also to be easily ap
proachable by his flock, especially by the poor. a ^g^
He will never win the latter if he exhibits
unwillingness to be troubled about their affairs, or is
always in hot haste to run off to something else when
they wish to converse with him. It is true there will
be much that is quite superfluous in their -talk, and he
will have to listen to many communications which are
little connected with his work among them; but by
76 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK.
lending a willing ear, and bearing with much of this
patiently, he will often be able to get at that which really
does concern the pastoral relation in which he stands
towards them, and which otherwise he would probably
never reach. Reserve in religious matters will often
break down before such an approachable spirit on the
part of the pastor ; but the hearts of the poor, at least,
are almost sure to be shut up by an appearance of in
difference or impatience in respect to their secular affairs.
At the same time, it will be very necessary for the clergy
man to protect himself from having valuable time frit
tered away by mere gossip that can lead to nothing ; as
also from giving the impression that his sympathy may
be looked for in the secular concerns of those with whom
he is holding pastoral intercourse, without regard to
that which is the real object of his holding that inter
course \
Great readiness to go any where, or to do
Readiness. .
any thing, at any time, of a pastoral nature,
is another quality that must assist in uniting parishioners
and their pastor heart to heart. It should be clearly
seen by his conduct that nothing is more important to
the latter than those ministrations to the souls of the
1 An easily accessible room at the parsonage, where the clergyman may
see any of his parishioners freely, is very useful. One such has come
under my notice in a town rectory, which was to be reached by an outer
and inner door of its own communicating directly with the public road. A
bell at this door sounded in the room itself, and by an arrangement of wires
the clergyman could give admission to the visitor without the intervention
of a servant. If the outer door was closed, it was known that the rector was
not in his study.
THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK. 77
former with which he is entrusted. There should be no
delay in the baptism of a dying child, or in attendance
upon a sick person requesting his visit ; no want of
punctuality at funerals or other occasional services ; but
that spirit of readiness which seems to say, " See, I am
willing, God helping me, to do my duty towards you ; let
me entreat you in Christ s name to do your duty towards
Him."
Let him also carefully avoid all appearance
. . . Condescen-
of harshness towards infirmities of body or sion to infir-
mind. "With sin, indeed, "Melius est cum
severitate diligere," in the words of St. Augustine,
"quam cum lenitate decipere;" but towards poverty,
the weaknesses of old age or of understanding, towards
want of resolution and perseverance, and all bodily fail
ings, great tenderness should be shown, and a loving
patience in bearing with them. Irritability on the part
of the clergyman is likely to raise a barrier between him
and those to whom it is shown, which it will perhaps be
impossible to break down again.
The cultivation of such a spirit in himself on the
part of the pastor will go far towards winning for him
the kindliest feelings on the part of the flock. Time
and long acquaintance will probably mature these feelings
into that deep-rooted, affectionate veneration so often
observable in our old-fashioned English parishes, where
the rector of twenty or thirty years standing is looked
up to as a father by all his people during his lifetime,
and mourned like one at his death. In Law s " Serious
Call to the Unconverted," there is a picture of such
78 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOft TO HIS FLOCK.
a clergyman too valuable not to be inserted in these
pages, although perhaps it may be well known to my
readers.
" Ouranius is a holy priest, full of the spirit
Law s pic-
ture of a of the Grospel, watching, labouring, and pray-
or ing for a poor country village. Every soul in
it is as dear to him as himself : and he loves them all as
he loves himself; because he prays for them all, as often
as he prays for himself. .... When Ouranius first en
tered into holy orders, he had a haughtiness in his
temper, a great contempt and disregard for all foolish
and unreasonable people ; but he has prayed away this
spirit, and has now the greatest tenderness for the most
obstinate sinners ; because he is always hoping that God
will sooner or later hear those prayers that he makes
for their repentance. The rudeness, ill-nature, or per
verse behaviour of any of his flock, used at first to betray
him into impatience ; but now it raises no other passion
in him, than a desire of being upon his knees in prayer
to God for them. Thus have his prayers for others
altered and amended the state of his own heart. It
would strangely delight you to see with what spirit
he converses, with what tenderness he reproves, with
what affection he exhorts, and with what vigour he
preaches ; and it is all owing to this, because he re
proves, exhorts, and preaches to those for whom he first
prays to God. . . . At his first coming to his little village,
it was as disagreeable to him as a prison, and every day
seemed too tedious to be endured in so retired a place.
He thought his parish was too full of poor and mean
THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK. 79
people, that were none of them fit for the conversation of
a gentleman. This put him upon a close application to
his studies. lie kept much at home, writ notes on Homer
and Plautus, and sometimes thought it hard to be called
to pray by any poor body, when he was just in the midst
of one of Homer s battles But now his days are so
far from being tedious, or his parish too great a retirement,
that he only wants more time to do that variety of good
which his soul thirsts after. The solitude of his little
parish is become a matter of great comfort to him, because
he hopes that God has placed him and his flock there to
make it their way to heaven. He can now not only con
verse with, but gladly attend and wait upon the poorest
kind of people. He is now daily watching over the weak
and infirm, humbling himself to perverse, rude, ignorant
people, wherever he can find them; and is so far from
desiring to be considered as a gentleman, that he desires
to be used as the servant of all ; and in the spirit of his
Lord and Master girds himself, and is glad to kneel down
and wash any of their feet 2 ."
Such a picture might require some modification to
adapt it perfectly to the age in which we now are, but
whether the pastor be placed among the aboriginal
labourers of a country village, or in the high-pressure intel
lectual atmosphere of a new manufacturing district, there
is much of the spirit here pourtrayed which he may take
home to himself with advantage. And it is certain that
he may ever set before himself, for adaptation to his own
- Call to the Unconverted, p. 388. 16th Edition.
80 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK.
position, the holy pattern of Him who is the Saviour
both of town and country, and the Shepherd of intellectual
and ignorant alike.
> Social intercourse between Pastor and flock.
It seldom happens that a clergyman is so situated in
his charge that he is brought into contact only with the
poor. In country towns and large villages, and in the
parishes of great cities, there will be among his parishioners
some of equal social standing with himself with whom he
will have to hold intercourse of a social as well as a
pastoral character. It then becomes an important ques
tion, how far such intercourse may be carried without
damage to his work, and what are the limits which his
position necessarily places to it.
As a principle which may help much to a
The Church . , , . , . . ,
leavens the proper judgment on this subject, it may be
set down that it is an undoubted and unmixed
good for the world to have the Church in the midst of
it, and by consequence the clergy ; but that on the other
hand, it is not an unmixed good for the Church itself, or
for the clergy. It is good for the world that it should
have the clergy in the midst of it as a reminder of the
world unseen with which the Church is con-
but may cerned : but there is danger to the clergy that
grow worldly
by its inter- they may in a greater or less degree forsake
the world. their primary vocation, and become "of" the
world, as well as " in " it.
The influence of the old classical paganism among
people of all classes was kept up, in a large degree, by the
THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK. 81
intimate admixture of religion with all the affairs of life,
and with all the places in which those affairs were trans
acted. Sculpture and painting were seldom dissociated
from religious ideas ; and poetry recognized them as one
of its chief themes. All public and political acts were
inaugurated and ratified by sacrifices : and the Penates of
the household were a token that men believed their reli
gion, and were not ashamed of it. Their religion was
false, but they acted towards it as if it had been true, with
the instinct of true men. They carried out towards a
wrong object the very principle laid down for the Jews,
" These words which I command thee this day, shall be in
thine heart : and thou shalt teach them diligently unto
thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in
thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when
thou liest down, and when thou risest up 3 ."
The revival, or rather the Christian extension and
expression of such a national and social recognition of
religion, is much to be desired among ourselves ; and there
are indeed many signs that there is likely to be such a
revival. Of course the clergy can do much towards pro
moting it ; and even when they do nothing with this
direct object, the social necessities of their position must
have that end, if they themselves are faithful to the spiri
tual necessities of their position. The very ,
J The pre-
presence of the clergy, (if they are present in a sence of the
decorous dress, and without the yielding up of
those minor points of conduct and carriage by licence -
3 Deut. vi. 6, 7.
82 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HTS FLOCK.
which their profession and office is distinguished,) is
often a step, by itself, towards a recognition of the pre
sence of their Master. It may throw an air of healthy
restraint over lawful festivities and amusements which
may be insensible to those who are partaking of them,
but the absence of which would be very plainly per
ceptible to observant persons. A cheerful acquiescence in
what is going on may be shown on many such occasions
by the clergyman s presence, wjiich need by no means
extend to actual participation. There is no need for the
clergyman to have bat in hand on every cricket- field in
his neighbourhood for the purpose of showing that the
Church does not disapprove of manly sports : nor, on the
other hand, need he necessarily absent himself from a ball,
as if dancing were beyond the pale of his quiet sanction,
as well as being an amusement which it is inexpedient for
himself to join in. Let him not shrink from being present
on such occasions when they come in his way without
seeking ; but let him take care that they do not alienate
him from his direct duties, or drag down his character to
a lower level than it ought to maintain. The genial
acquiescence of which I have spoken ought never to
obscure the reality of the clergyman s office, either in his
own mind or that of others. He should never be so
engaged in any society that either he or the society in
which he moves feel that there is an inconsistency in his
appearance at God s altar on the following Sunday, or
his presence in the pulpit as their teacher. A promiscuous
or frequent attendance of clergymen at balls or other
festivities of which amusement is the only object, must be,
THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK. 83
of course, very undesirable. In his own parish, or on
special occasions, it may be, on the other hand, very de
sirable. It may be expedient to remind society that it is
Christian, even in the midst of social joys 4 ; and in the
gayest scene, as elsewhere, the presence of the servant of
God as such may be a strong rebuke to an excessive spirit
of woiidliness, as it may be a visible memorial of a Master
of all whose eye is never absent.
The greatest safeguard to the clergyman
himself, when he is mixing with the world in against
society, will be a keen sense of the inalienable
character of his office ; and a religious determination that
if in any sense he " become all things to all men," it is
only that he " may win some " as the minister of Christ.
I need hardly say that a severe criticism of his motives,
from time to time, as well as self-examination in respect to
his conduct in society, and the effect which it is producing
upon his mind and his work, is really necessary. If it
is the duty of the clergyman occasionally to mingle with
society in its hours of hilarity for the sake of leavening it
by his presence, it may become a far higher duty for him
to absent himself, lest he should in any way become inca
pacitated for the proper and conscientious carrying out of
his mission as a pastor over the flock of Christ.
In using balls and cricket-matches as illustrations, I
4 If the clergy had exercised a more careful oversight in respect to these
matters, it is probable that English society might have escaped the intro
duction of some modern and very unseemly dances. A Hindostanee gentleman
not long ago expressed his astonishment that English fathers and mothers
allowed all their daughters to dance like "nautch -girls."
G 2
84 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK.
have, by implication, marked out what appear to me to be
the utmost limits to which a clergyman will find it proper
to go in mixing himself up with the in-door or out-of-door
amusements of society, and I will only add, further, that
there must be much discretion used even in moving within
those limits 5 . Concerts and dinner parties may furnish
him with harmless relaxation, and yet if he is known as a
constant frequenter of the one, or has the reputation of
never declining an invitation to the other, he is sure to
lower the spirituality of his position, and the man of God
will be partly thrown into the background, out of sight, by
the conspicuousness of the man of the world.
In all that I have said on this subject, the relation of
the pastor and his parishioners has been in my eye. Some
may think that a more lax practice is allowable to the
clergy when not among their parishioners ; and, accord
ingly, it is not uncommon to find the clergyman when
away from home putting off the external marks of his
office and using a much greater freedom in society than he
allows himself at home. A man must have great confi
dence in his powers of self-discipline to venture on such
dangerous ground ; and can have little other excuse than
the mere desire of relaxation from a stricter life for doing
so. I have only mentioned the subject that I may suggest
a doubt whether a clergyman can really adopt such a
5 Of races and theatres I know absolutely nothing by personal observa
tion. I do not see that a clergyman can ever be called to either by his
duties as a member of society ; and I should not suppose that any good
would result from his presence as a clergyman, at either a theatre or a race
course.
THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK. 85
course without getting into a groove when away from
home, from the bias of which he will find it very difficult
to free himself on his return to its duties.
The principal object of the pastor s social
intercourse with the upper classes of his parish- SOC J ; ^ in er _
ioners is, that he may thereby secure a deeper cm rse with
parishioners.
hold upon their kindly feelings for direct
pastoral purposes. As he does all he can to secure the
confidence and affection of the poor, so he ought to use
his best endeavours to the same end with the other classes
of his parishioners. One feels that a great
. . , , , -IT. i Alienation
mistake has been made by many clergymen in O f clergy
applying all their tact, and a disproportionate ^ middl e
share of their labour towards gaining the igno
rant and the poor, to the alienation (by neglect) of those
engaged in trade or professions, or occupying independent
positions. These latter classes may have a distant respect
for the rector who holds no social intercourse with them ;
but they will have none of that friendliness, and almost
affection, which it is so desirable there should be. Too
often this alienation has arisen from pride, either pride of
birth and social position, or pride of poverty. In the
first case, the clergyman and his wife may feel that, but
for the office of the former, he would never be called on
to associate with those of the classes in question who may
be among his parishioners. In the second case, they
may feel that as the professional income of the clergyman
is so small compared with his position, and with that of
other professions, it is very unpleasant to go into society.
In both cases the real object for which the clergyman is
86 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK.
in the parish at all ought to be considered as the primary
consideration. If the younger son of a peer is too proud
to hold intercourse with such of his parishioners as are
able with propriety to entertain their clergyman, he is too
proud to be fit for his position. All his condescension to
the poor will not make amends for his alienation of those
who are not poor ; and though he may give a quietus to
his conscience by means of it, he cannot thus absolve
himself from the responsibility he has undertaken of
caring for all classes. But a clergyman of high social
rank may find it easier to persuade himself of such a truth
than to persuade his wife.
With respect to the pride which I have spoken of as
actuating poor clergymen and their families in holding
aloof from social intercourse with parishioners, it may be
answered in one word, that good taste and refinement of
mind weigh infinitely heavier in all society than wealth ;
and that the poor vicar, or the poor vicar s wife, will
generally be able to hold their own, (by means of such
qualities,) in any house, however wealthy, to which duty
may require them to go. It is almost superfluous to
add that the remarks already made, as to the responsi
bility resting upon the pastor with reference to all classes
of his flock, are as applicable in this case as in the
former.
The poverty which many clergymen have to
endure in the present day is, indeed, a trial of
n li ^ tt kind and ^ i8 n0t P robable that i1;
will be lightened in our generation, as the
efforts to provide for the spiritual care of the people are
THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK. 87
likely to precede any zealous effort to provide an adequate
maintenance for the clergy to whom it is entrusted. It
was not without reason that St. Paul wrote to Timothy,
" Let no man despise thy youth ;" and probably the same
practical mind, if it had been at work in the ages when
Christianity became wealthy and honoured, as it now is,
but when many of the clergy were excluded from partici
pation in its wealth and honour 6 , might have seen fit to
leave another injunction on record, "Let no man despise
thy poverty." No doubt wealth, as well as rank and age,
carries great influence with it, especially among the com
mercial classes ; and each of these carries it in the
estimate which those classes form of the clergy as well
as of other persons. It is right that this should be so.
Age presupposes experience, rank presupposes honour,
and wealth presupposes responsibility, and, to some
extent, worth. The stronger the tendency to such in
fluences on the part of a clergyman s parishioners, the
greater the disadvantage to him, at first, if he possesses
neither wealth, rank, nor age. Young men, unknown
men, and poor men have to earn, and must do their best
to earn, that respect which is accorded gratuitously to
their elders or their richer brethren. Hence the maxim
of St. Paul may be taken in two ways, as also the maxim
which I have ventured to found upon it. It is true that
6 It is trying to have to labour for years, in town and country, on an
average income of less than 1001. a year; one s wife being, perhaps, able
to raise it 251. more by hard work as a governess. I have known vicars of
parishes in obscure districts, of which the public never hears, equally
cramped by poverty, and now and then, even in towns.
88 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK.
no Christian flock ought to despise the youth or poverty
of their pastor, a priori, before they have found reason
to despise them. But it is equally true that he should be
very careful indeed to give no man cause to despise them,
a posteriori, from the results which they bring about,
either now or hereafter.
If, therefore, the clergyman of a parish is poor, do not
let his poverty keep him aloof from his parishioners ; but
let it be borne with such dignity and self-respect that he
can go among them without any appearance of desire to
disguise his condition, or to make it appear otherwise
than the poverty of a man of sense, refinement, and con
science. It is not really either age or wealth which give
influence to their possessors, but the qualities by which
age and wealth are supposed to be accompanied. If
those qualities are aimed at by the pastor, men will
despise neither his youth, nor his poverty ; and he him
self will be able to feel that his moral and religious
influence, at least, may stand quite independent of such
accessories, so long as he takes a conscientious view of
the relation between himself and his parishioners, and
conscientiously acts up to it in respect to their social in
tercourse with each other.
. Impartiality in pastoral icork.
The occasion I have had to speak of the pastor s re
sponsibilities to all classes alike of his parishioners, leads
me on to a few further remarks on the same subject,
connected, not with social intercourse, but with an un-
evenness and disproportion in work, with respect to
THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK. 89
both our acts, and the persons with whom we have to
deal.
Clergymen, with a variety of work before
them, such as is to be found in no other pro- Temptation
fession, must always be peculiarly open to the tiLuty," in
temptation of overvaluing some parts of that work -
work, perhaps that in which they find them
selves most successful, to the depreciation of some other
portion, that in which they, perhaps, meet with little
apparent success. It is quite true, that if any clergy
man finds himself possessed of a special aptness for
any particular branch of his work, he ought to culti
vate that faculty with care and diligence. It may be
that he is a better preacher than school manager, or
successful at domiciliary visits, when he can do but
little, beyond what he is compelled to do, in his pulpit
or school-room. The danger is, that in the interest
which he will thus feel towards what he does well, he
may give too little time and pains to that which he does
but poorly. Suppose, e. g. he is so much in his schools
that he has no time or energy for visiting; or so con
stantly visiting, and bustling about his parish, that he
neglects study ; or so engrossed with the ritual part of
his services that his sermons become the subject of heb
domadal impatience to his parishioners ; or that preach
ing is made so entirely the one end of his ministry,
that most other things are allowed to float or drift on
as they may. "Where there is any such want of pro
portion in the exertion of a clergyman s powers, it is
manifest that the want of justice to his parishioners in
90 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK.
one particular is not compensated for by his over-pay
ment in another. Such mistakes may arise from mere
want of consideration as to the effect of private tastes
and inclinations upon the fulfilment of official duties.
It becomes a more serious matter still, if they arise from
a direct preference for those duties which are popular
and observable, as Sunday services, to the neglect of others
not less important, but which are less open to observation
and criticism.
The same temptation arises in the path
Partiality
for persons of the clergyman with regard to the persons
under his charge. There is a great difference
in the facility with which some classes of them may be
" got at " and influenced, as compared with others ; and
it not unfrequently happens that the clergyman forms,
or allows to grow, a sort of clique, of which he is the
centre, and these persons, (very good, probably, as well
as very manageable,) the radiating substance. He calls
upon them very frequently, looks to them exclusively
for help in Church work, considers them, and treats them
as the very elite of his flock. Perhaps towards most
others in it he feels almost helpless and hopeless, and
allows this feeling to go on growing until he gradually
settles down into being the pastor of a congregation
instead of the pastor of the parish. In such a case the
Church becomes almost avowedly the Church of a sect,
and the pernicious notion goes on also growing, outside
of the clergyman s clique, that such outsiders have no
spiritual concern with him, nor he with them. Thus
there comes into play a sort of " pew system," in the
THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK. 91
pastor s work of spiritual oversight, in which the per
petual missionary duties of the Church of England in
her modern parishes have no place or representative.
The most likely form of such a danger, as
experience shows, is that which has led to the
too common idea that a clergyman is princi
pally concerned with the charge of women and children.
By excess of display, in respect to his influence over the
children of his school, or by too prominent and exclusive
an attention to the feminine part of his flock, the clergy
man may seem to be giving ground for this notion ;
seeming to treat his work as if it was complete, because
he has done something towards instructing the one, and
gaining influence with the other. It should, therefore,
be recognized as a first principle of parochial action,
that men are by the laws of Providence the leaders of
the society in which they live ; and that if they are
not gained, very little real work has been done. The
susceptible mind of the weaker sex is naturally open
to personal influence, but let it be also remembered that
the personal influence of the clergyman is not the power
of religion. As a rule, the substantial tone of a family,
whatever appearances may be, will follow the tone of
its head. At least, if he is religious, the wife and chil
dren will mostly be found so ; and good habits that
have their origin in him will not be long in finding
their way to the members of the family, of which he is
the "house-band" and the father. There is, therefore,
the strongest reason why the pastor should guard him
self against attaching too much importance to any seem-
92 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK.
ing influence that he may possess with the feminine
portion of a family ; and why he should apportion his
endeavours and labours in respect to persons generally,
according to that providential arrangement by which
"the head of the woman is the man."
Probably it is impossible, such is the weak-
" Follow-
ings " to be ness of human nature, but that an earnest
clergyman should have a "following." It
will often, especially in large cities, be this " following,"
by which the respect and affection which many have
justly learned to feel for him will show itself. But it
will be healthy for him, and for those who are thus
attached to him, to show a ruthless determination in not
recognizing such a following, either to others, or in
his own mind. In theory, he is in charge of the souls
in his own parish, and in that only ; in theory he is in
charge of the souls of all in that parish. The nearer he
can bring his practice into analogy with this theory,
the more faithfully will the pastor be representing, in
his own person and work, the Catholic, orderly, and
comprehensive character of pastoral labours as they are
recognized by the Church of England.
. Importance of Toivns.
Although the subject is almost too general an one
for a place in a book which professes to deal with pastoral
work in detail, it seems not altogether inappropriate
to urge here a more thorough appreciation, on the part
of the clergy at large, of the importance of viewing
the Church of England as the Church of the whole
THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK. 93
people of the land, and as equally essential to the
progress and even maintenance of religion whether
in town or country. There has always been a prefer
ence for country parishes among the clergy : and of
books that have been written on the subject of pastoral
work, I know hardly any which at all deal with it, as if
England was a land of manufacturing and commercial
towns as well as of agricultural villages. Let English
clergymen avoid the seductions of the charming sophism
that " God made the country, but man made the town."
Under the influence of love for country life they went a
long way, in past generations, towards losing the hold of
the Church of which they are ministers on the populations
of our large towns. And yet one great city, thoroughly
gained for the Church, would have more influence on the
revival of Church of England principles, and of practical
religion, than the largest county of mere agricultural
parishes. It is in the cities and towns that the intel
lectual powers are being developed among the classes who
do the head-work of the country. It is there that the
great social questions of the day are being tried out;
there that the secular part of education is being pushed
to its utmost limits. This is especially the case in the
north of England; which, in many parts, is a kind of
Anglicized America in its feelings, institutions, and habits ;
the principal difference, and a most important one, being,
that there is still a strong underlying force of national
tradition which gives a stability to the northern counties
of England, derived from the consciousness of a past, such
as America in its unmitigated newness, cannot yet possess.
94 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK.
If it should be the lot of a clergyman to be cast in any
town parish where the characteristics here hinted at are
conspicuous, let him look on it as a ministerial privilege ;
let him consider that he has been placed in a position
where all his learning, energy, zeal, piety, and tact, will
be required. He has been placed in the vanguard of the
army which is fighting the Lord s battle against immo
rality and intellectual sin ; and has had put into his hands
the most hopeful material that can be found for building
up a " Church of the future," such as will be a true de
velopment, for a busy age, of the ever fresh and young
Church which has been the guide of so many generations.
Our towns and cities are fields of labour in which Christ s
pastors are sure to win great progress for His Church and
glory for His Name, if they are but true to their office,
and to the principles of the Church in which they minister.
. Systematic Habits.
"Whether in a town parish where the houses are almost
heaped together, or in a country village and its adjacent
farmsteads, the pastor will find that his work among his
parishioners is made much more productive by a systematic
economy of his powers.
Some persons have a fear of system in religious matters
of any kind, others have a kind of contempt for it. Those
who fear it do so from a dread that it must be accom
panied by, or that it must lead on to, formality: while
those who despise system, despise it from a misapprehen
sion of the silent and concentrated nature of its results.
Work done on a systematic plan occupies less space and
THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK. 95
makes less show than diffuse and bustling labours ; but it
will suffer great injustice if it is judged by a superficial
glance.
One who is in real earnest will be in little danger of
becoming merely formal. System is to parish work what
the forms of devotion are to prayer. A high sense of
responsibility to God will be the true safeguard in either
case, and a thoroughly efficient one. There need be no
fear of formality arising from exactness and system : the
danger of it will come from other sources.
As to the amount of work relatively accomplished by a
loose and a systematic course of action, it seems almost
unnecessary to say a word in such days as these, except
for the peculiar reasons that I have referred to above. As
in other callings, so it will be with that of the clergyman ;
the systematic man will accomplish in two hours as much
work as one of unsystematic habits will do in the greater
part of a day. The one goes on the plan of " knowing
what he has to do, and doing it ;" the other, starting with
indefinite notions as to the nature and extent of his work,
is sure to have still more indefinite ideas as to the mode of
doing it. The one is able to watch his own progress in
the mass or in the detail of his labour : to see when it is
time to leave it off, when it has been carried as far as it
need or can go, and when continued labour is still re
quired : the other is like a man digging up a field here
and there as the impulse takes him, who may finish his
task in time, but who will expend far more time and
labour over it than he need have done had he dug on in
an orderly manner, spit after spit, from one end of the
96 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK.
field to the other. The systematic man knows pretty well,
too, the extent and limits of his powers, mental and phy
sical, of his official authority, and of his responsibilities ;
while the unsystematic is ever a slave to the unknown and
the infinite. The one can persevere; the other is con
tinually breaking down. The one often succeeds ; the
other almost always fails.
Without descending to much detail, which is not the
object of this chapter, I will take two illustrations of the
value of system in the relations between a pastor and his
flock ; the one connected with domiciliary visiting, the
other with his mode of teaching.
1. A clergyman may habitually spend a large
System m -part o f fa s time in visiting his flock, and yet
visiting. m j t
be producing very little effect by his visits
through the want of some definite purpose and course of
action. If the true view of ordinary pastoral visiting cul
minated in a little friendly semi- religious gossip, of course
little more system in mental or bodily action need be used
than is enough to carry the pastor from house to house, to
take so many in turn, and get through so many week by
week. But if the clergyman ought to be something more
than a kind Christian friend, and if he is to leave his mark as
a pastor in the houses where he makes official visits, he will
find it profitable to consider in each case why he is visiting,
and in each visit what can be done towards effecting the
object in view. Thus he may seek out a purpose for nearly
the whole of his domiciliary visiting, and steadily work
his way towards its attainment.
2. A large majority of our people are marvellously de-
THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK. 97
ficient as to their knowledge of the fundamental principles
of Christianity. This fact comes out in strong colours some
times, when conversation in society happens to turn towards
any current controversy, such as the authority of the Holy
Bible or the observance of Sunday. I have known a lady
of much piety, and some education, express great astonish
ment when told that she was wrong in supposing the
Bible Society possessed the original MSS. of the New
Testament : and among the lower classes ignorance of a
far more grave character in proportion to their station of
life is to be found ~. It is to be feared that a vague way of
preaching has had much to do with this ignorance among
all classes. Catechizing is the true remedy of the Church s
own appointment ; but it is manifest that a systematic
mode of teaching, which is based on similar principles,
is far more likely to overcome the evil than an unmethodi
cal habit in which truths are loosely hung together, and
hardly any advantage taken of the system actually put
into our hands in the Kalendar of lessons, the varying
Sunday services, and the seasons of the Christian year.
But of this I have spoken more at length in the following
chapter, and will therefore say no more here.
A careful reflection on the subject of these two illustra
tions will probably lead the reader to more valuable con
clusions than I have set before him ; but I feel no doubt
7 The returns of gaol chaplains are a valuable record of the state of reli
gious knowledge among the neglected classes. In some months experience
of a prison which accidentally came upon me through the illness and death
of a relative, I found many who knew not even the name of their Redeemer ;
few who could say the Creed and the Lord s Prayer perfectly.
H
98 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK.
that they will be in favour of a systematic habit of pastoral
labour, such as that I have advocated ; and that the prac
tical value of such a system must unfold itself more and
more to those who adopt it.
. Over-work.
The routine of official prayer, study, social amenities,
and parochial labour, to which I have directed attention
in the preceding chapters, are but a part of the duties
that fall to the lot of the diligent pastor, and yet they
point to a great amount of work, such as may easily prove
exhausting if undertaken with indiscreet zeal. It is, there
fore, a duty on the part of a hard-working clergyman to
take care not to over- work himself to such an extent that
he is obliged to intermit his labours at a time, perhaps,
when they are most required ; or cease from them alto
gether through loss of health at a period of life when the
mature growth of his judgment and the extent of his ex
perience would have made him more than ever useful.
There is something hollow in that activity which is ex
cessive for a year or two, and then drives a clergyman away
from his flock for months to the Continent or to idleness.
The pastor should be generous in the expenditure of his
health and strength, because his flock may well require
such generosity at his hands. He has no right to be
prodigal with them, because they are the gifts of God, for
use, and not for abuse even in His service.
Extreme
CHAPTER IV.
THE MINISTRY OF GOD S WORD.
VERY different ideas have been expressed by
various parties in the Church as to the value of opmions
preaching. " "We would not be thought/ says about .
a writer in the Eighty-ninth Tract for the
Times, "entirely to depreciate preaching as a means of
doing good. It may be necessary in a weak and languish
ing state ; but it is an instrument which Scripture, to say
the least, has never recommended." Such was the tone
of the party represented by these Tracts.
On the other hand, the tone of the opposite, or evange
lical party, was such as to represent preaching as the
highest part of the Christian system, or as the centre from
and to which every other part of the system points. " All
our diversity of means and machinery must subserve, and
their energy depend upon, a faithful exercise of the
preaching commission. All the work done, or to be done,
must be connected with the foolishness of preaching
as God s chosen and chief ordinance V
1 Bridges Christian Ministry, p. 191.
H 2
100 THE MINISTRY OF GOD s WORD.
As usual, we may look for the truth, between
Its educa- th ese two extremes : and it is instructive to
tive value.
find that those who depreciated preaching made
more of it in their practice than they did in their theory ;
while those who exalted it to the chief place in the Chris
tian system, practically recognized the value of the grace
given by sacraments. Preaching is, if not absolutely
necessary, yet highly expedient for all classes of English
people. The uneducated would know hardly any thing
of their religion, and very little indeed of their Bibles, but
for the sermons which they hear 2 . The educated gain
information as to their religion and their Bibles by means
of it from one who makes both his professional study, and
who therefore possesses more knowledge of his subject than
one in a thousand of his hearers is likely to have acquired
independently of the sermons listened to Sunday after
Sunday from childhood.
But there is a higher reason still why preach -
vaiuT" ^8 should be used. The preacher comes in
the name of God, and with the grace of God.
It is the duty of his people to listen to him, because he is
an ambassador from One to whom all owe allegiance. And
faith in the promises of Christ will lead us to anticipate
some other benefit from his message than that advantage
which may always be expected from listening to a man
who is an expert in his own particular line.
2 Fenelon remarks, in his Dialogues on Eloquence, that " there are always
three-fourths of ,an ordinary congregation who do not know those first
principles of religion, in which the preacher supposes every one to he fully
instructed."
THE MINISTRY OF GOD S WORD. 101
There is. therefore, a foundation of sound
. . The demand
and religious common sense in the acknow- for sermons
i -i -i n , n T f a, sound oiie.
ledged demand oi our people lor sermons.
Instead of complaining of, or checking it, the clergy
should endeavour to meet it in such a manner as to make
the foolishness of preaching a real means of drawing men
nearer to God. And surely that is an honourable part
of the pastor s duty, which exclusively won for the great
Archbishop of Constantinople his distinctive surname of
Chrysostom.
. The place of Preaching in the Church system.
In the Scriptural and the Prayer Book sense of the
word, to preach has a far higher meaning than that com
monly assigned to it. The ordinary idea of preaching is,
that it consists solely in the composition, and the de
livery (from or without manuscript) of an essay or exhor
tation which owes its force to the preacher s natural gifts
of intellect, spiritualized, perhaps, by personal piety 3 .
The idea of a special commission, as an element in the
effectiveness of preaching, is but rarely entertained. Even
those who maintain that such a commission is necessary
for the administration of the sacraments, will concede
the point that any well-educated and pious man may
deliver a discourse such as will constitute him a true
preacher of the Word of God.
3 The latter condition is not always required in favourite preachers by
the popular mind.
102 THE MINISTRY OF GOD s WORD.
Adopting the rule which I laid down for
England myself and my readers in the first page of this
theory of volume, let us 2ro in search of the Church of
preaching.
England idea upon the subject ; and we shall
find a statement in the twenty-third Article of Religion,
that " it is not lawful for any man to take upon him the
office of public preaching, or ministering the sacraments
in the congregation, before he be lawfully called and sent
to execute the same." And the forty-ninth Canon en
joins that "no person whatsoever, not examined and
approved by the bishop of the diocese, or not licensed,
as is aforesaid, for a sufficient or convenient preacher,
shall take upon him to expound in his own cure, or else
where, any Scripture or matter of doctrine." Some
bishops give this licence to preach in formal terms ; others
consider it to be included in the commission given to
a clergyman by Ordination ; but no one can doubt that
great importance is intended to be attached to the ordi
nance of preaching; and that authority to preach is
considered essential, not only as a question of civil or
ecclesiastical order, but also, and far more, as one of
spiritual efficacy. This may be seen from a summary of
the terms in which preaching is spoken of in those formu
laries, by which every clergyman is legally bound, and to
which he ought loyally to bow.
1. In the words of Ordination, immediately
Ordination after the solemn commission usually called
"The Power of the Keys," come the words,
" And be thou a faithful dispenser of the Word of God,
and of His holy Sacraments ; " and after this general
THE MINISTRY OF GOD S WORD. 103
commission the more particular one, " Take thou authority
to preach the Word of God, and to minister the holy Sacra
ments in the congregation where thou shalt be lawfully
appointed thereunto. *
2. The twenty-sixth Article of Religion
refers to preaching in similar terms, declaring
that the "ministration of the Word," as well
as of the Sacraments, is in the name of Christ, so that
" we may use the ministry " of even " evil " men, " both
in hearing the Word of God, and in receiving of the
Sacraments." That preaching is really meant by such
solemn words is shown by the nineteenth Article, which
declares that "the Visible Church of Christ is a con
gregation of faithful men, in the which the pure Word of
God is preached, and the Sacraments be duly adminis
tered," &c.
3. The twenty-third Article, which forbids laymen to
preach, I have already quoted ; but its force is strength
ened (considering the spirit of the times when the
Articles were compiled) by the thirty-seventh, which
declares, among other things, that "we give not" even
" to our princes the, ministering either of God s Word, or of
the Sacraments," &c.
All these passages show that the Church of England
idea of preaching is, that it is a work for which the
qualification of holy orders is required, and that one who
has not received those holy orders is no more competent
to be a "dispenser of the Word of God" than to be a
" dispenser of His holy Sacraments V
4 It seems to nic, after much doubt and consideration, that the Re-
104 THE MINISTRY OF GOD s WORD.
I have been particular in pointing this out clearly, not
with the view of passing any judgment upon the teaching
of Dissenters, but to show in what position the Church
of England considers her clergy to be with reference to
the ordinance of preaching as it forms part of her system.
Any view of that ordinance which places it in the light of
a mere effort of literary ability or eloquence under the
influence of personal piety, is plainly much below the
view in which it is placed by the formularies of the
Church. They plainly contemplate the preacher s office
as dependent on the grace given by God the Holy Ghost
through ordination, as well as on the learning, literary
ability, and eloquence with which every clergyman is
supposed to be provided by study and practice. In a tone
consistent with such a theory is the beautiful Litany
clause, so familiar to the ears of all Englishmen, " That
it may please Thee to illuminate all bishops, priests, and
deacons, with true knowledge and understanding of Thy
Word ; and that both by their preaching and li ving they
may set it forth, and show it accordingly." Such too are
the words of one of the Ember prayers, when the Church
beseeches God to "replenish" her ministers "with the
truth of His doctrine;" and of the less familiar words
formers certainly meant preaching by the expression, " the ministry of the
Word of God." It may be well, however, to add Hooker s caution on the
subject : " If we allege what the Scriptures themselves do usually speak for
the saving force of the Word of God, not with restraint to any one certain
kind of delivery, hit howsoever the same shall chance to lie made known,
yet by one trick or other they always restrain it unto sermons." He also
gives examples of the application of the word, " preaching God s Word," in
other senses than by sermons, in V. xxi. 4.
THE MINISTRY OF GOT) s WORD. 105
used after the ordination of priests by the bishop, " Most
merciful Father, we beseech Thee to send upon these
Thy servants Thy heavenly blessing; that they may be
clothed with righteousness, and that Thy word spoken
by their mouths may have such success, that it may never
be spoken in vain V
Much care, then, must the pastor take, not to undervalue
the duty of preaching in his own mind, and not to cause
it to be undervalued by others. Considering the im
portance of the work to others, and his own responsibility
in respect to it, both towards God and man, he will feel
that the grace of the Holy Ghost is indeed necessary for
him, as well as all the skill and learning that he can give,
to make preaching effective. Remembering also the pro
mise made to the Apostles, " It is not you that speak, but
the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you;" he
will believe that in some measure the same Spirit will
speak in him for his ordinary pastoral work that spake
in the Apostles for their Apostolic work 6 . Knowing that
the awful words, " Receive the Holy Ghost for the work
s It is a point worth, observing, that no responsibility is laid upon
deacons by their ordination, to " drive away erroneous doctrine," either by
their public or private admonitions. I have known deacons preach, and
publish too, very good controversial sermons ; but I have also known them
"get into hot water" with the flock in which they ministered by doing so.
Perhaps a due consideration of the duties and responsibilities of a deacon
might lead to the conclusion that, as no official authority is given them
by their ordination to drive away erroneous doctrine, they ought not, under
ordinary circumstances, to engage in any sort of controversial work. The
circumstances and character of Athanasius were exceptional.
6 Such an application of this promise is to be found in Aug. De Doctr.
Christian, iv. 16.
106 THE MINISTRY OF GOD S WORD.
of a priest," extend to the priest s work of preaching, as
well as to that of dispensing the Holy Sacraments, he will
endeavour to " stir up the gift which is in him by the
laying on of hands." And both when he is preparing
and when he is delivering his sermons he will strive to do
both to the best of his power, and to work in a faithful
dependence upon God the Holy Ghost, that he may be
made an ambassador of the personal Word of God, pro
claiming that which, from its written fountain and its
quasi-prophetic character, may be truly called the minis
tration of God s Word to His people.
Such a solemn appreciation of preaching is quite in
accordance with the tone of Holy Scripture on the subject.
It has been said, and that without any irreverence, that
our Blessed Lord was proved by temptation before He
" began to preach and to say, Repent ; for the kingdom of
heaven is at hand;" and that He took not on Himself
even the office of preacher, but, according to the words of
prophecy (to which He gave the application in their fulfil
ment on almost the first public exercise of His ministry,)
" The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me ; because He hath
anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor ; He hath
sent Me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance
to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set
at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable
year of the Lord V When, too, our Chief Shepherd sent
forth the Apostles and the Evangelists, "to preach the
kingdom of God" was one part of the work appointed
7 Luke iv. 18.
THE MINISTRY OF GOD S WORD. 107
them ; and so was it also in the final commission given to
the former immediately before His ascension. But per
haps the importance of the duty is nowhere more clearly
shown than in the solemn language used respecting it by
St. Paul, " Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an
apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;) a
teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity 8 ." And in
similar words at the end of his labours, " Whereunto I am
appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the
Gentiles. For the which cause I also suffer these things V
Twice does he thus point out the authority under which
he acts, ordination to his preachership as well as to
his Apostleship. A Ki ipvZ, coming in the Name of the
King, he is for the time endowed with the King s dignity
and authority, in His Name, and only because it is
in His Name that he acts, to " beseech men in Christ s
stead."
Thus does the Church of England send forth the
pastors of Christ s flock. She bids them go to the in
tellectual classes and to the ignorant, to the crowded town
and the pleasant village church, and declare to all, " I
have a message from God unto thee ;" " non valet haec ego
dico, ha3C tu dicis, haec ille dicit; set hsec dicit Domi-
nus 1 ." She bids them go as men who do not indeed
claim to be depositaries of the faith, but only expositors
of it ; yet as those who can speak as men educated in their
profession, holding a commission from God, and endowed
* 1 Tim. ii. 7. 9 2 Tim. i. 11.
1 Axis , ad Vincent.
108 THE MINISTRY OF GOD S WORD.
with grace to assist them in teaching aright. It is true
that they are still open to the criticism of those who can
test their logic or their learning ; but such criticism ought
to be of a reverent kind, and made in the spirit of charity ;
reverent, because the preachers are God s messengers ;
charitable, because it is right to suppose that, as con
scientious men, they are doing their best according to
their natural or their educated ability.
In the conviction that the duty of preaching is thus
one that cannot be slighted without danger of dishonour
ing Hiln who has appointed it, I will now endeavour to
lead my readers to the consideration of some practical
matters connected with it, and which may be of use to
young clergymen in helping them to acquire such effi
ciency in the exercise of this part of their duties, as may
be for the true edification of that part of God s house
hold which the Master Builder has assigned to their
charge.
. The object of Preaching.
Stated in a concise form, the object of all preaching
must be considered to be that of drawing souls nearer to
God. This would be the purpose of preaching to the
heathen, who are God s children by creation, though not
yet drawn near to Him by baptism and Christian life;
it is the object in the case of Christians alienated from
Him by wicked living ; and it is the object in the case of
good Christians, who are often falling back from Him,
and need exhortation all their lives, to press on towards
a closer union with their Lord.
THE MINISTRY OF GOD s WORD. 109
But a definition mostly requires expanding, if its full
bearing is to be seen. I would therefore say that the
drawing of souls nearer to God by means of preaching
is effected through three principal functions of the
preacher s office, viz., instruction, exhortation, and con
solation ; all of which in their proper places minister
to the confirmation of Christians in the spiritual life.
The first of these is a most important
Instruction.
function of preaching, of whatever class or
mixture of classes the preacher s congregation may be
composed. It will embrace the three principal heads of
(a) Exposition of Holy Scripture ; (j3) Proofs and ex
planations of Church doctrine ; and (7) Christian Ethics :
and there is at present no danger of finding any class of
society so well informed on either of these heads, as to
make the preacher s office, in respect to that class, un
necessary.
a) It appears to me that exposition might
be advantageously used to a much larger extent tion! XP S
than it is ; especially in parishes where the
bulk of the congregations is composed of the non-reading
part of the community. Such exposition may sometimes
be confined to the one or more verses which are used as a
Text ; but there is no reason why it should not at other
limes extend to the whole of a chapter or a Psalm, the
key-note being carefully struck by means of a text care
fully chosen with that object from among its verses. The
Psalms especially, which are so much neglected by modern
preachers, may be most profitably used as the subject of
pulpit exposition ; and by means of it the congregation will
110 THE MINISTRY OF GOD s WORD.
be led to sing them with the understanding, as well as with
the voice. Of course St. Augustine, Bishop Home, Mr.
Eraser s, Mr. Isaac Williams , and Mr. Neale s books should
be well used as a previous study : and there are here and
there many valuable treatises on particular Psalms, as the
119th, or classes of Psalms, as the penitential, which may
offer many suggestions, and start many a good train of
thought, in the course of preparation for a sermon. Nor
is the Psalter by any means the only portion of Holy
Scripture which requires to be " expounded," if it is to be
understood by the uneducated. There are chapters in the
prophetic books which are mysteries to the majority of
people when they are read in church or in private, and
which ought to be dealt with in the same manner ; and
discourses on our Lord s Parables or Miracles must almost
necessarily take the form of continuous exposition. It was
thus that the wonderful folios of a former age were
developed, mediaeval commentaries on Holy Scripture, and
Puritan volumes of Sermon after Sermon on the Romans,
and other favourite parts of the New Testament, by a
multitude of " painful preachers." Among the former are
some of our most valuable expositions of the Bible, freely
used without acknowledgment by later English commen
tators, and among the latter there is many a sound and
useful lesson to be learned by those who have patience to
wade through a strangely verbose style. But a real student
of the original of Holy Scripture will never be at a loss
for material wherewith to expound and illustrate an ordi
nary chapter of the Bible ; and in no part of his ministra
tions will he find a stronger confirmation of the words,
THE MINISTRY OF GOD s WORD. Ill
" He that watereth shall be watered himself," than in the
increasing knowledge of the Bible which he will gain by
the exercise of his intellect and piety in explaining it from
the pulpit to others.
/3) In saying that Church doctrine should
form a part of the instruction given in Sermons, Doctrine
I desire to guard against being supposed to
recommend controversial preaching as either desirable or
necessary for ordinary congregations. Nothing is more
objectionable than a combative tone in the pulpit. The
duty of engaging in controversy may be thrown upon the
Church and on individual clergymen, but the pulpit is
rarely the place from which it should be carried on.
Speaking of this to his clergy in 1751, the temperate and
holy Bishop Butler says, "It may seem, that whatever
reason there be for caution as to entering into an argu
mentative defence of religion in common conversation, yet
that it is necessary to do this from the pulpit, in order to
guard the people against being corrupted, however, in some
places. But then surely it should be done in a manner
as little controversial as possible. For though such as are
capable of seeing the force of objections are capable also of
seeing the force of the answers which are given to them ;
yet the truth is, the people will not competently attend to
either. But it is easy to see which they will attend to
most. And to hear religion treated of as what many deny,
and which has much said against it as well as for it ; this
cannot but have a tendency to give them ill impressions
at any time ; and seems particularly improper for all per
sons at a time of devotion ; even for such as are arrived at
112 THE MINISTRY OF GOD s WORD.
the most settled state of piety ; I say at a time of devo
tion, when we are assembled to yield ourselves up to the
full influence of the Divine presence, and to call forth into
actual exercise every pious affection of heart 2 ." This
sound reasoning is that which every clergyman who limits
his Christian zeal by his Christian prudence will find most
suitable to his inclination as well as his judgment. And
he will conclude that the duty of " driving away strange
doctrines " to which every pastor is pledged by his ordi
nation vows, is to be fulfilled, so far as the pulpit is con
cerned, by a declaration of truth rather than by a formal
attempt to refute error. While it is made clear what
particular error is opposed to the truth declared, it will be
best to touch as lightly as possible on the error itself, but
boldly and unflinchingly to oppose to it the strongest force
of truth which is in our power.
For, although a controversial spirit and controversy
itself are out of place in the pulpit, not the less necessary is it
that the preacher of the Gospel should endeavour to secure
to his people the veritable good tidings which are their
rightful inheritance, and not "another Gospel," such as
man} 7 " may indeed hanker after, but none can be saved by.
Our congregations are made up, for the most part, of
people who are easily misled, the uneducated through
their absolute ignorance of right and wrong in matters of
faith, the educated through a comparative ignorance, the
sympathies of which are all on the side of doubt. Hence it
is only by persevering declaration of the truth that the
- Butler s Works, ii. 313. Oxford Ed. 1850.
THE MINISTRY OF GOD s WORD. 113
former can be made to feel what they cannot reason out,
that the Church has a larger claim upon their allegiance,
and offers them a more sure icay of salvation than the Ranters 1
meeting-house. And as to the educated class, they are in
constant danger of being seduced by some plausible and
pretentious writer like Dr. Colenso, whose power over
their minds will be lessened in proportion as the truth is
efficiently set before them. It is true we are not required
to preach our people into theologians, but into good Chris
tians ; but as the goodness of Christians diminishes in pro
portion to the diminution of truth and the growth of error
in their minds, theological teaching, as distinguished from
controversy, becomes a necessary part of pulpit work.
In all such theological teaching, let us " consider the
end of our conversation." It is not to discuss sublapsa-
rianism and supralapsarianism ; but it is to speak a word
of which God our Saviour is the object : " Him first, Him
last, Him midst, and without end." Never should we tire
of setting forth the glory of God and the salvation of man in
the person of Christ. Never need our congregations be tired
of hearing Him so set forth, if we are true to our calling
in the study of Holy Scripture, in prayer, diligence, and
holiness. A moderately good preacher may set out with
the determination that almost the whole of his preaching
shall consist of sermons in which " Jesus Christ, yesterday,
to-day, and for ever," shall be literally the chief theme ;
and he would, by study, find such infinite store of material
in the things that were written concerning Him in Moses
and the Prophets and the Psalms, that he might extend his
sermons over a course of many years without any lack of
i
114 THE MINISTRY OF GOD S WORD.
variety. Once let him accept the Holy Bible as a system
of Christology in which the At-one-Maker and His work,
past, present, and to come, on the world of men at large, on
each individual soul of man, is set forth, and he will find
out that, at least for the confirmation of his people in the
faith, all that he needs (but what an all it is !) will be to
bring himself and them, by God s good aid, to a sound
understanding of those Scriptures in which all necessary
truth is contained.
I need hardly add, that the chief features of such a
Christology as is here spoken of are mapped out, or in
dexed, in the venerable creeds to which every clergyman
has sworn allegiance ; and that for the particular division
of the object of preaching of which I am now speaking,
the prayers of the Church of England go a very long way
indeed towards indicating the faith of the Church of
England. Nor need I point out in detail that those
particulars which constitute the differentia between the
Church of England and other religious communities of
England, Romanist and Protestant, are clearly set forth in
the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion. But it may be well
to recall to the memory of my readers some words of good
George Herbert on this head : " The country parson," a
fortiori might be added, the town parson, "hath read
the Fathers also, and the schoolmen, and the later writers,
or a good proportion of all, out of all which he hath
compiled a book, and body of divinity, which is the
storehouse of his sermons, and which he preacheth all his
life ; but diversely clothed, illustrated, and enlarged. For
though the world is full of such composures, yet every
THE MINISTRY OF GOD s WORD. 115
man s own is fittest, readiest, and most savoury to him.
Besides, this being to be done in his younger and prepara
tory times, it is an honest joy ever after to look upon his
well-spent hours. This body he made by way of expound
ing the Church Catechism, to which all divinity may
easily be reduced. For it being indifferent in itself to
choose any method, that is best to be chosen of which
there is likeliest to be most use. Now catechizing being a
work of singular and admirable benefit to the Church of
God, and a thing required under canonical obedience, the
expounding of our Catechism must needs be the most
useful form V On this passage Professor Blunt remarks
that such a method would lead to the danger of each
clergyman having his own "private system" of theology ;
and he recommends instead a mere alphabetical arrange
ment of subjects, under which the various extracts and
compendia may be placed for ready reference. The present
writer will not venture to express a decided opinion either
way in the face of two authorities so sound and wise ; but
he may add, that he made the Catechism his study in the
early years of his ministry, and set down on paper, with
many additions, the substance of a year s catechizing, so
prepared for, in a country church. These condensed notes,
with their numerous Bible and other references, have often
proved of great advantage to him in the preparation of
doctrinal sermons ; and he has sometimes found there the
essence of former reading which at the later period he had
neither time nor opportunity to work up again. He is,
3 Herbert s Works, i. 128.
i 2
116 THE MINISTRY OF GOD s WORD.
therefore, disposed to think that the preparation of a MS.
volume of the kind indicated would be a most useful result
of the reading which must necessarily be undertaken for
sermon purposes; and it would at any time come into
direct use for school catechizing, even where Church cate
chizing is not practised 4 .
But the ordinary office of the preacher in respect to
doctrinal teaching will be rather to pre-occupy the ground,
than to meet the adversary when he has shown himself in
array. In a vessel which is full of generous wine there
will be no room for the introduction of less wholesome
fluid. Minds that have been well accustomed to a course
of sound doctrinal preaching which finds its main support
in the words of Holy Scripture and the Prayer Book, will
offer little room for the lodgment of heretical and schis-
matical notions. However humble the doctrinal knowledge
of uneducated people may be, if they have learned really
and religiously to appreciate Christmas, Good Friday,
Easter, and Whitsuntide, they possess in their minds the
key to the knowledge of all Christian doctrine. It is not
4 James I. issued an injunction in 1623 against the use of any other
subject than the Catechism for afternoon preaching; and up to a compara
tively late date the tone of bishops charges was in accordance with this
injunction. Baxter says, towards the close of his life, "Now it is the
fundamental doctrines of the Catechism which I higliliest value, and daily
think of, and find most useful to myself and others. The Creed, the Lord s
Prayer, and the Ten Commandments, do find me now the most acceptable
and plentiful matter for all my meditations. They are to me as my daily
bread and drink, and, as I can speak and write of them over and over again,
so I had rather read or hear of them than any of the school niceties which
once so much pleased me. And thus I observed it was with old Bishop Usher
and many other men."
THE MINISTRY OF GOD s WOED. 117
difficult, from season to season and year to year, to give
them such a knowledge of the meaning as well as the facts
of our Lord s life and work as will be a sound defence
against the attacks of adversaries.
Let me only add to this, that all doctrinal preaching
ought to be of an extremely reverent character, and should
have something of a devotional element infused into it 5 .
A hard dogmatic or argumentative style of explaining or
defending Christian truth will always repel all ordinary
classes of hearers, however appropriate it might be before
an assembly of highly educated men. It is much to be
avoided in the customary pastoral work of the pulpit.
And above all, it must be ever shown with untiring
reiteration, that the end of all doctrine is practice ; that a
belief in our Lord Jesus Christ ought to end in our falling
down at His feet to worship Him ; in a casting ourselves
before Him as sinful creatures ; in a laying hold upon the
salvation which He has wrought, and is working for us.
Without this, our faith, however orthodox it may be in
theory, is not that practical faith which preaching is in
tended to deepen within us, and by it, draw us nearer to God.
The remaining division of the instruction
which I am assuming to form so large a part g^ 1 ^ 1811
of the object of preaching, is instruction in
5 The occasional introduction, even, of a devotional form for a few sentences
of a sermon is extremely effective in giving a good tone to both preacher
and hearers ; and the Doxology with which it is customary to end a sermon
may be advantageously used as a kind of condensed summary of what has
gone before, or as a memorial of the season, as Good Friday, Easter Day, or
Whitsuntide, on the plan of the "proper prefaces" in the Communion
Service, but shorter.
118 THE MINISTRY OF GOD s WORD.
Christian ethics. This also is a very important work in
the present day, and a work which has been spoken of
too slightingly by those who used to sneer at "moral
essays," as if morality were one thing and Christian
holiness another. There is a dangerous idea growing up
in sceptical minds, that a high moral life is possible quite
independently of Christian influences, and that such a life
fulfils all the demands really made upon us as responsible
creatures. This is, in effect, to reject Christ s law as an
obligation, and Christian grace as the means of fulfilling
that obligation ; and it is a very small step further to
go so far towards rejecting Christ Himself as to recognize
Him only in a way akin to the recognition conceded by
the Doceta?.
Preaching on Christian ethics should be founded on
these two principles : First, that Christians are living
under the obligation of a Christianized moral law, as
distinguished from a natural moral law imposed by God
on heathens, or the moral law imposed upon the Jewish
race. Secondly, that the specific character of this Chris
tianized moral law makes necessary a specific grace to
be bestowed by God on and through our Christian nature
for the fulfilment of its obligations. Thus, to take an
illustration from our Lord s own teaching. Abstinence
from murder was part of the Jewish law, and part also
of the natural moral law, but it is elaborated by Christ,
receiving from Him an additional, that is, a more strict
or Christian character. Now, God is not a hard task
master. When He imposed a higher law, He also gave
a higher grace ; and it is as easy for those who are one
THE MINISTRY OF GOD s WORD. 119
with Christ by the operation of the Holy Ghost to keep
the more difficult law as it was for the heathen or the
Jew to keep the more easy one.
Without further illustration it will be seen how large
a field is thus opened to the preacher for showing the
connexion of Christ s work and person with Christian
ethics ; that, according to His own word, " Without Me ye
can do nothing," self- righteousness is no righteousness
at all, and the modern expression of old errors about
non-Christian morality contrary to the first principles
laid down in Christ s teaching, "As the branch cannot
bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine : no more
can ye, except ye abide in Me 6 ." This fundamental
principle of Christian ethics is to be found expressed
in the thirteenth Article, which says that "works done
before the grace of Christ, and the inspiration of His
Spirit, are not pleasing to God;" and is the constant
burden of that Apostle who said, " wretched man that
I am ! who shall deliver me from the body of this death ?"
in the strong conviction of the truth of his other words,
" I can do all things through Christ which strengthened
me." In giving such ethical instruction it must be re
membered that the conversion of sinners is, however, only
one part of a preacher s duty. Our congregations are
of a mixed character, and it is quite as necessary to preach
for the purpose of building up the godly. There are
multitudes of doubts and difficulties of such, in respect
to their moral conduct and obligations, which in the
6 John xv. 4.
120 THE MINISTRY OF GOD s WORD.
Roman Catholic Church are brought to the confessional
to be solved, but which may receive just as sound and
useful a solution in the pulpit from careful ethical preach
ing carefully self-applied to their personal case by well-
trained Christian minds.
Of formal treatises which may help the preacher in
this part of his work there are not many. Such books
as Bishop Butler s Sermons, are, of course, essential
reading for the purpose; and Paley s Moral Theology
may prove of great use to a mind fortified by settled
principles. But as it is not the province of a writer in
strictly scientific treatises to say much on that necessity
for the help of God s grace which forms a principal
part of a preacher s ground in treating the same subject,
he cannot expect to find in such writers assistance which
will supersede the necessity for careful thought on his
own part. The Romanist Liguori is full of hair-splitting,
abounds in minute dealings with abominations which it
is "a shame even to speak of," and contains many very
questionable conclusions indeed. Bishop Sanderson s
works are of great value, as also Bishop Taylor s Ditctor
Dubitantium. There is, of modern date, a compact volume
on " Christian Morals," published by the Rev. William
Sewell, Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University
of Oxford, which will furnish many useful suggestions to
the mind of a thoughtful clergyman for preaching of the
kind I am here suggesting.
I have dwelt so long upon the instructing
Exhortation
and conso- part of the preacher s omce because it appears
to me to be that which in its various parts
THE MINISTRY OF GOD s WORD. 121
must be most frequently brought into play by a practical
preacher. The other functions of that office, exhortation
and consolation, must also, in reality, be built upon
instruction, and take their form from it, except on special
occasions. Unless they are so, there is danger of both
becoming very unreal. In preaching to a congregation
of 300 or 400 persons, for instance, Sunday after Sunday,
almost always the same set of people, there is no room
for constant exhortation, except so far as it may be con
nected with some subject coming under one or other
head of the classification I have just gone through.
General admonitions to repentance addressed to such a
congregation must lose their weight by reiteration. It
is right to assume that exhortation has some effect even
the first time it is uttered ; but the continual repetition
of it implies that it has had no effect, which should
certainly not be taken for granted to be the case. No
thing is w r orse for those who listen to sermons, than
to become so familiar with the constant cry of danger
that they come to disregard it. They look upon it as
part of the preacher s professional habit: "He don t
think so badly of us as to suppose that we really need
such continual denunciation of our supposed sins, and
such unceasing calls to repentance. It is just what a
man must do if he gets up to preach." I have even
heard it asserted, and believe the assertion to be a true
one, that congregations grow in time to be rather fond
of being spoken to as very abandoned sinners; and it
is alleged that this is the general tone among some of
the more ignorant Methodist preachers, a tone com-
122 THE MINISTRY OF GOD s WORD.
plaeently listened to- by habitual drunkards, and other
sinners, who never show any practical sign of being
brought to repentance by forsaking their sins on account
of such unceasing admonitions.
I should, therefore, advise that, although exhortation
be made a part of every, or nearly every sermon, yet
it be made the whole substance of very few. It should
ever be solemn in tone ; closely to the point, as connected
with the subject of the sermon ; and adapted as much as
possible to the particular circumstances of the congre
gation addressed. But it should not be spread over a
large space pf the sermon, lest its extension should weaken
its strength. Of consolation much the same must be said,
adding also that it will be oftener found in its place as an
indirect and collateral result, rather than as a distinct
object of preaching.
. Sorrowing, and original composition.
Do not let any young clergyman fall willingly into
a habit of using other people s sermons. I say willingly,
because there may be cases in which a clergyman is
so oppressed with the number of sermons required from
him, or so incapable of producing an original one of
his own, that there is nothing else to be done but to
borrow the best that he can for his purpose until he gets
out of his difficulties.
But only a humiliating incapacity for literary com
position, or an excessive drag of preaching work, can
relieve the habitual or frequent use of borrowed sermons
from the just charge of dishonesty and idleness. Many
THE MINISTRY OF GOI> s WORD. 123
have written in justification of the practice, but they
are generally writers who take a much lower view of
the responsibilities of the preacher than has been taken
in the preceding pages; and the opinion often quoted
from Bishop Sprat seems to me to be much more con
sistent with the true position of a clergyman as pastor
of a parish, that " every person who undertakes this
great employment should make it a matter of religion and
conscience to preach nothing but what is the product of
his own study, and of his own composing ; " nor do I
see how any one can be of a different opinion, who con
siders that the preaching of sermons is really a "great
employment," and one with which both "religion" and
"conscience" are closely concerned 7 . To use borrowed
sermons is to evade a duty which is laid upon every
clergyman when he is commissioned to preach. The
congregation consider such a habit in the light of an
imposition ; and as the discovery that a clergyman prac
tises such a habit would bring him into contempt, so
the suspicion of it (where that suspicion is reasonable,
and congregations are not unreasonable or over severe
in the matter of sermons) much lessens any legitimate
force and influence which the suspected sermon might
otherwise exercise. Genuineness is a characteristic to
which we may look for power in sermons as in other
things. The merits of a " genuine " man are far more
7 On the other hand, Paley says in his College Lectures, " As to preach
ing, if your situation requires a sermon every Sunday, make one and steal
five." The plainness of his language would be its own antidote to most
modern clergymen.
124 THE MINISTRY OF GOD S WORD.
thought of than his defects. And genuineness is also
a characteristic, the absence or presence of which mani
fests itself far more plainly to the congregation than
many preachers suppose.
Moreover, borrowed sermons often prove a very bad
"fit," as regards the person who uses them, to say no
thing of the same point, as regards the persons to whom
they are preached. It has happened to me to hear an
extremely stiff young rector, the successor of a most
genuine archdeacon of the "old school," preach one of
Manning s very fervid discourses verbatim; and not un-
frequently have some of us listened to explosions of verbal
zeal from the lips of preachers whose frigidity in the
pulpit and elsewhere would not allow them to, explode
their zeal in any thing but an icy monotone.
Mishaps will, too, occasionally occur. An unfortunate
curate of my acquaintance once preached one of the
" Plain Sermons " in the morning, while his brother curate
was at the chapel of ease, and had the horror of sitting
in the reading-desk in the evening to hear the same
discourse delivered from the same pulpit, to the same
congregation, his brother curate being then the preacher.
Nor is it unfrequent to find that part of the audience
recognize sermons. I have known Bishop Beveridge s
Sermons on the Church thus recognized, among older
divines, and Mr. Melville s among recent writers; and
have a clergyman also in my recollection who used oc
casionally to be badgered by one of his flock with,
"Very nice Dr. Hook s meditation you gave us this
morning, sir."
THE MINISTRY OF GOD s WORD. 125
None can be content to follow such a course who have
a high sense of the fact that they appear in the pulpit
as the KTJ/DUKEC of God, whose work it is to "cry aloud
and spare not," in carrying His message to the souls
of men, teaching them His will and His truth ; saying,
" Why will ye die, house of Israel ?" and " beseeching
them in Christ s stead." None can be content to preach
borrowed sermons who feel that the efficiency of preach
ing depends on the grace of God in the preacher as well
as in the hearer.
There are, however, two cases in which, as I before
remarked, such borrowing may be justifiable in some
degree. The first case is that of the unfortunate cleric
who finds himself so little competent for the work which
he has undertaken to do that he cannot make a sermon
for himself ; the other is that of the overburdened priest
who has more sermons to preach than he can find time
or thought to prepare. It happened to the present writer,
in the first six months of his diaconate, to preach four
sermons on one Sunday, and a fifth on the following Wed
nesday. It probably happens to many, as it constantly
did for some years to himself, to preach twice or three
times on Sunday, and once in the week regularly, in the
midst of other calls, such as come upon the curate in
charge of a district numbering 10,000 souls. Cases of
this kind are so far removed from the operation of all
ordinary rules, that it certainly must not be laid down
as wrong to use borrowed sermons under such circum
stances. The necessity is so great, if written discourses
are used, that I do not see what else the clergyman can do.
126 THE MINISTRY OF GOD S WORD.
But for each of these cases there is a remedy open. Let
the incapable clergyman try to learn this branch of his
calling, and with perseverance he will succeed, however
little talent he may be blest with 8 . And for the over
burdened clergyman, let him learn by degrees to extem
porize his sermons, and so husband at least some of the
time which would otherwise be taken up by the mechanical
work of writing.
It may, however, be objected, that if the younger clergy
are possessed with this strong sense of the duty of ori
ginality, their congregations are likely to hear sermons
from some of them of which originality is a more remark
able characteristic than depth, solidity, or soundness. To
which I reply, that there is no reason why this should be
so if preparation for the duty of preaching is made, as it
undoubtedly ought to be, part of that preparation for Holy
Orders without which no man ought to become a clergy
man. There are now eight or more Theological Colleges in
England, the express object of which is to give a special
professional training to those who are about to undertake
the work of the ministry. At Oxford and Cambridge
there is also some opportunity, independently of these non-
University Colleges, for candidates for Holy Orders to
become acquainted with the duties which are to fall upon
them, and with the manner in which they are to carry out
those duties. It is probably the custom at all Theological
Colleges to follow the example set by the University of
Durham, and make the composition of sermons, and their
8 But let him, of all things, abjure the sermons manufactured " for all
occasions," at ninepence a week, post paid.
THE MINISTRY OF GOD*S WORD. 127
delivery also, a regular part of the divinity student s train
ing for at least a year before going up to the bishop. If
this is done, the earlier difficulties of the work will have
been surmounted before a single sermon has been required
for the actual pulpit ; and the crude results which may be
supposed to follow first attempts will probably have been
thrown on the fire. At the very least, habits of com
position must have been acquired in no small degree ;
and some practice in that particular kind of composition
which is necessary for sermons. And if a clergyman
enters upon his work thus rationally prepared for it, there
will not be much danger of his original sermons being
extraordinarily defective either in substance or construction.
Nor, again, is it intended to advocate such habits of
sermon composition as discard altogether the help of
previous writers. It is one thing servilely to make use of
these as a child copies from its master s dictation, another
to pass them through the digestive process of study, and
thus assimilate them to the substance of one s own homi-
letic idiosyncrasy and requirements : and it is the former
habit only which I have deprecated as being idle and
dishonest. I cannot conceive of the mere copying habit,
that it can carry with it any measure of God s blessing for
preacher or hearer. How could any one with an idly
copied or lithographed sermon in his hand dare to meet a
congregation if he truly appreciated that which is written
in their position as hearers and his own as preacher, " Now
therefore are we all here present before thee, to hear all
things that are commanded thee of God ?"
128 THE MINISTRY OF GOD*S WORD.
Having urged so strongly the duty of ori-
ofsermons 11 ma l composition, it may be reasonably asked
of me, how this duty is to be carried out. The
answer really lies in a very small compass. The recipe
for sermon-making is contained in the one word STUDY.
Let the preacher study theology, study human nature,
learning to write or to speak what he has gathered in his
studies, and little more will be needed to make his sermons
attractive as well as useful. The uninteresting and vapid
sermons sometimes to be heard are too often the result of
emptiness on the one hand, or exhaustion on the other :
in either case the result of a deficiency in the important
duty of study. A well-read, intellectual clergyman a
" full man," in Bacon s happy phrase can never be at a
loss for sermon material of a solid kind, if by this twofold
kind of study he counteracts the inevitable exhaustive
powers of homiletic evaporation ; nor does such study
involve any extensive range of subjects, or any extra
vagant occupation of valuable time. Some preachers have
indeed a happy way of bringing all their study, of what
ever kind, to bear on their sermons ; as no one can have
failed to observe in the case of Jeremy Taylor and South 9 .
But good ordinary sermons can be written without so
large a grasp of learning as was possessed by these masters
of the art.
9 Speaker Onslow attributes to Archbishop Sharp the saying that the
Bible and Shakspeare made him Archbishop of York. It will be remem
bered that St. Chrysostom, that wonderful preacher, slept with Aristophanes
under his pillow.
THE MINISTRY OF GOD s WORD. 129
For theological study the young clergyman
will have done a great deal if in the first three
or four years of his ministry he has carefully
read one tolerably complete commentary on the Holy
Bible. A complete commentary does not exist in English,
the works which go by that name being all popular ex
positions of a too superficial character for the purpose of
clerical studies : we are therefore driven to look back to
earlier times than those of vernacular commentaries. That
of Nicholas de Lyra, a converted Jew of the fourteenth
century , appears to have been very largely used by the
reformers, Lyra s knowledge of Hebrew being so great as
to make the Old Testament part of his work very valu
able. But a later commentator, Cornelius a Lapide,
accomplished a labour of immense magnitude in the seven
teenth century in his commentary of sixteen folio volumes,
probably the most complete work on the Bible ever written.
If the clergyman is tolerably well versed in modern New
Testament criticism, and fortified with such knowledge of
Anglican principles as are to be gained from Pearson,
Hooker, and Harold Browne, before taking holy orders,
the use of a Jesuit commentary will involve no danger to
his mind, as far as the distinctive peculiarities of Romanism
which here and there crop out are concerned : and certainly
1 The best of the old editions is that printed at Antwerp in 6 vols. fol.
1634. I think,
" Si Lyra non lyrasset
Totus mundus delirasset,"
is a Reformation distich : though some versions have the second line,
" Lutherus non saltasset."
K
130 THE MINISTRY OF GOD S WORD.
no more recent writer is worthy to be compared with
a Lapide for the laborious diligence with which he collects
together arguments and authorities on all sides, and gives
his readers that opportunity of judging for themselves
which, as English Churchmen, they will wish to have.
Such an invaluable assistant most young clergymen can
add to their College books when they first enter upon
clerical life ; and the sum expended on one large work
will be less than that often wasted during a year or two
in buying volumes of sermons for use in copying, or in the
construction of homiletic mosaic 3 .
The next addition to a preacher s stock of books for
sermon studies should be the Library of the Fathers, or if
he cannot afford the whole, that portion of it which con
sists of the works of St. Cyril of Jerusalem, St. Chrysos-
tom, and St. Augustine, a store of New Testament exposi
tion which the Reformers had at their fingers ends ; and
which will be to the modern student also an inexhaustible
mine of thought to be worked at the same time with the
commentary 3 .
I recommend these few books, because there is far more
- There are numerous editions of the commentaries of Cornelius a Lapide,
and the older ones may be purchased for from 61. to 10/. A new one in
twenty-six quarto volumes has been lately published, which is enriched by
the " Prefaces " of St. Jerome, and by many of the results of German learn
ing. The price of it is 121. 12s., the publisher L. Vives, Paris. Mr. Stark,
bookseller, Hull, has always a large stock of ancient and modern editions
of Scripture commentaries, and among them of both De Lyra and Cornelius
h Lapide.
3 A detailed list, showing the prices of the Scripture commentai ies con
tained in the Library of the Fathers, may be obtained of Messrs. J. H. and
James Parker, Oxford and London.
THE MINISTRY OF GOI) s WORD. 131
to be gained from a concentrated attention to a few than
from a partial or desultory perusal of many ; and because
it will be found that habits of study will be less repulsive
to the hard-worked pastor, if he can at once go to an
author, or a small set of authors, who will provide him
with material for thought on any particular portion of
Holy Scripture which may be the subject of his sermon
work. It is like the concentrated result of discussing a
question in a small committee of practical men, as con
trasted with the diffuse and irregular discussion of a public
meeting, the best ending of which is the appointment of
such a committee. There may be contrary motion in the
elements of the chords in such a small array of books, but
the result will be a sound and refreshing harmony if they
are wisely arranged. The reader of many books, on the
other hand, too often produces only a confused clash of
notes, piled together in multitudinous discord.
Nor must it be forgotten that a great aid to
i - ,1 -11 Intellectual
the preacher in the composition of sermons will meditation
be a habit of thought, such as may be called a n
Scripture.
reverent intellectual meditation on Holy Scrip
ture. "This reflective habit," says Mr. Bridges, "often
supplies the deficiency of extrinsical help ; constant excite
ment increases intellectual fertility ; the mind is brought
to know the extent of its capabilities ; and being supported
and strengthened by frequent exercise (to use Luther s
words), suggests more, much more, than all our com
mentators united. A mind thus invigorated, stamps its
own character on all its exercises. It instinctively turns
over and over again the matter presented to it ; apprehends
K 2
132 THE MINISTRY OF GOD s WORD.
it in connexion and dependencies with other trains of
thought and principles of action, and thus successfully
adapts it to present circumstances 4 ."
By means of such books and such habits, the sermon-
writer will learn the depth of Holy Scripture, and avoid
shallow, hasty expositions of it. He will not be content
with the first result of his investigations, but will be
rejoiced to "go wash seven times " in the stream, if he
may draw thence the healing grace of God ; to " go look
seven times " from the mountain top, if he may thence see
the signs that are to guide the prophet in his course; to
search diligently in the field, that he may find the pearl
of God s real and priceless message to man.
The other chief element of knowledge for the
And from /? i i j i> xi_
study of purposes 01 preaching is to be gained irom the
human study of human nature. This is chiefly to be
nature. J
obtained by that kind of habitual observation
which may be called a practical anatomy of the living
mind. A vast fund of knowledge may be gained from
careful self-examination. It is rarely that one may not
find a master-key to other hearts concealed in one s own
bosom. Amidst all the varieties of the human countenance,
the minute lines and curves formed by the millions of
glandular apertures in the skin, all keep to the same
general course, so that the anatomist who studies them in
one subject knows them in all ; and the greater organs of
the body are so seldom out of their normal position, that a
complete knowledge of their situation acquired from the
examination of a single cadaver would be sufficient for all
4 Bridges Christian Ministry, p. 210.
THE MINISTRY OF GOD s WORD. 133
ordinary practical purposes. Thus, to a great extent, it is
with the study of man s moral nature also. However
confined the field of observation may be, it will be sufficient
for the clergyman s purpose of acquiring a large know
ledge of motives, intentions, and the operations of man s
mind as bearing upon his religion. If he make use of the
opportunities daily afforded by the knowledge of his own
inner nature, he will go far towards acquiring a knowledge
of human nature in general ; and in his constant visits
among his parishioners, he will be able to extend that
knowledge as far as for the purpose of sermon-writing
he will, in that particular parish, require. I will add a
caution, which is to avoid using knowledge so acquired in
such a manner as to make sermons appear personal. Such
a caution might be thought unnecessary, but it is a
well-known fact that Cecil, the once famous Evangelical
preacher, used to make up the representative characters of
his sermons from his knowledge or supposed knowledge of
individuals in his congregation. Such a practice is unfair,
and if the personality is at all closely carried out, it appears
to me to be dishonourable. Besides, people recognize their
neighbours much more readily than they do themselves in
personifications of this kind, and so the preacher loses his
end, but gains dislike from those who fear that their turn
may come too, as well as their neighbours .
. Subjects for Sermons.
Having now stated some of the general principles which
ought to guide the pastor in his preaching labours, I will
proceed to make a few observations on the kind of subjects
134 THE MINISTRY OF GOB s WORD.
which seem best adapted for the positions that are most
commonly occupied by the clergy.
The range of subjects open to preachers is indeed wide
as the page of Holy Scripture, the experience of human
nature, and the ingenuity of preachers themselves ; but
it does not therefore follow that it is so easy to choose
wisely, as to make it unnecessary to think about a
subject until the time comes when it is required for use.
On the contrary, it will be found most useful to form a
very definite idea, or even plan, in respect to sermon
subjects ; and to keep a book expressly for writing them
down in some orderly classification as they occur to the
mind in the course of reading or meditation s . Whether
in writing a sermon, or in preaching one without writing
it, a definite subject (so stated as it should be if used as
an interpretative title in print) is a guide in two ways ;
for, first, it leads the thoughts onward to a certain end
and purpose ; and, secondly, it keeps the writer or speaker
" on the rails," a very important matter.
Some writers lay much stress upon the choice of topics,
with a view to the supposed spiritual condition of the
hearers. This is sometimes a very important considera
tion, but not always. The spiritual condition of our con
gregations is necessarily varied, and it is impossible at
any time to know from week to week what will be really
thus adapted to any large number out of the three or four
hundred, or two or three thousand, who may form one of
s A book of suggestive texts is also extremely useful ; a few notes being
sometimes appended to the text to show the line in which a happy thought
has, perhaps, indicated that it might be worked out.
THE MINISTRY OF GOD s WORD. 135
them. A choice of subjects founded on such a principle
must be a very random choice indeed in general. Rare
occasions may happen when it will be possible and wise
to adopt such a course ; but these occasions will be ex
ceptional ones, and the rule would be only a generally
practicable one if congregations could be assorted, whereas
they are almost always of a mixed character.
There is more practical wisdom in such a choice of
subjects as forms itself in faithful subordination to the
tone of the Scriptures as they are used in Divine worship ;
and there is room for so great a variety in a selection
thus made, that the introduction of subjects otherwise
chosen need only be resorted to on special occasions.
Many preachers would probably be much surprised, if
they have not adopted such a habit, at the satisfactory
character of the results which flow from a persevering
adherence to it as their ordinary plan for preaching.
The most obvious form of such a system would, of
course, be arranged upon the outline given by the Epistle
and Gospel for the day. This has the advantage that
these Scriptures are chosen with great point, and with a
very distinct and definite reference to the seasons at which
they occur, or to some current of doctrine which is run
ning through a season of the Christian year. It needs
but a cursory glance at the many volumes of " Sermons
for the Christian Seasons," which have been published
of late years, to see that a variety of lines may be taken
in preaching on this plan, some more, some less directly
obvious. It is probable that a thoughtful clergyman
might provide himself with a four or five years course
136 THE MINISTRY OF GOD s WORD.
of sermons, even if he entirely restricted himself to the
Epistles and Gospels for his subjects, and preached twice
every Sunday ; for the truth of Holy Scripture is not
only many-sided, it is also deep in its wisdom; and
while there is gold lying on the surface, there is also gold
lying under its surface. It is not at once or even twice
digging that the subject of a Sunday Gospel or Epistle
is exhausted 6 .
6 I will put into a note, for those whom it may concern, a caution as to
the mode of inculcating the duty of observing Christian seasons. The
recoil of a revival has led to much exaggeration in the teaching and practice
of some of the clergy on this point ; and an unreal kind of sennons are
preached by them, in which theory and practice maintain their union only
on paper.
This has been especially the case in respect to the observance of Lent,
and of that kind of life of which Lent is a type. To preach up a system
of ascetic life, or contemplative devotion, to people whose duties employ
their thoughts and time and energy throughout the day, is to preach to
the winds. Men who are at their ledgers, behind their counters, engaged
in the avocations of a country gentleman s life, in the government of the
country, or in hard-working professions, cannot really pray seven times a
day, in the same sense as David and Daniel did; or as the monks and
hermits of old, or as leisurely bishops, like Andrewes, who never left his
study, nor saw any one on business, until after noon. Neither can people
whose ordinary diet is of the simplest and most sparing description fast in
the sense of any great abstinence from food, without incapacitating them
selves for doing their duty in that state of life to which God has called
them.
Our thoughts must live in the nineteenth century if we want our sermons
to be practical and effective. Rigid abstinence from the necessaries of life
means, in this temperate age, emaciation, and ruin of the nervous tissue ;
which does, in fact, injure those powers of self-control and self-discipline
that it is intended to strengthen. It was different in the days of strong
ale breakfasts, dinners, and suppers of George Herbert s days ; and a refer
ence to that good man s own remarks on the subject of fasting (Works, p.
144) will show how different the "abstinence" of his day was from that
often inculcated by modern preachers. But we have opportunity for fasting
THE MINISTRY OF GOD*S WORD. 137
But I do not recommend a clergyman so to restrict
himself. I would rather urge the abundance of other
material which also lies to his hand in the Sunday
Scriptures, with a view to his careful consideration of
them all.
There are, in addition to the fixed Gospels and Epistles,
fixed proper lessons from the Old Testament, every one
of which will furnish one or more subjects. Thus, from
the first lesson read upon Septuagesima Sunday, the
preacher may discourse on the creation of the world, and
the creation of man. On Sexagesima will come in the
Fall of man, and the destruction of the old world by the
flood. On Quinquagesima, the covenant of God, first,
with Noah, and next, with Abraham. Sometimes sub
jects abound, offering themselves for successive years.
Thus, on Sexagesima, sermons might be preached from
Genesis iii. on at least these themes, (1) The Fall of Man ;
(2) Hiding from God ; (3) The promise to Eve ; (4) The
expulsion from Eden : all so far differing from each other
in substance that there need be no shrinking, from fear
from luxuries beyond any former age. Theatres, balls, private parties,
novel-reading, mere ornamental pursuits, unnecessary delicacies, sumptuous
costume, these are things which may well be selected as the subjects of
our abstinence, if, in Lent or in our general life, we desire to adopt a stricter
Christian habit than is commonly necessary.
The clergyman who adopts simply Patristic or Mediaeval rules for his
teaching, will lead a few impressive young people, and leave the multitude
of his common-sense hearers untouched. The one who considers the habits
and necessities of the age in which God s Providence has placed him, will
probably have the satisfaction of seeing Lent turned into a reality in the
midst of busy life, and the pursuits of his congregations Christianized at
all times.
138 THE MINISTRY OF GOD S WORD.
of repetition. Again, those lessons in which the history
of Jacob is partly narrated furnish (by themselves, or in
connexion with omitted chapters) a complete mine of
homiletic material ; as may also be said of the history
of David. There is, too, a store of such subjects, as the
acts and characters of the various Jewish rulers and kings,
and God s dealings with Israel, all lying straight in our
way in the proper lessons ; and many portions of the
prophets which will be mysterious to the congregation,
as they listen to them year after year, unless explained
in sermons.
Occasionally, also, there will be a most suggestive acci
dental concurrence of subject in the fixed first with the
moveable second lesson. Sexagesima Sunday, with its
account of the temptation of the first Adam in Genesis
iii., may be on February 1, when the temptation of the
second Adam will follow in the first chapter of St. Mark s
Gospel; or it may be further on in the month, when
the latter chapters of the same Gospel give the history of
Christ s sufferings brought about by the Fall of man, an
equally significant concurrence. Or, again, a striking
combination may be formed between one of the lessons
and the Gospel and Epistle, as on the fifth Sunday in
Lent, when Exodus iii. proclaims the I AM of the Old
Testament, and the Gospel from St. John viii. the I AM
of the New. Or there may be some accidental pointed-
ness and application to circumstances of current interest 7 ,
7 My readers will remember such a striking coincidence on the day of
Charles the First s death. The king thanked Bishop Juxon for his con
siderate choice of the twenty -seventh chapter of St. Matthew, from which
THE MINISTRY OF GOD s WORD. 139
such as occurs at Evening Service on December 24th,
when no more appropriate chapter could have been
chosen for a proper lesson than that which comes in the
ordinary course of daily lessons, and which refers so
beautifully both to the teaching of Christmas Eve, and
also to the work of church decoration, in which those who
are present have probably been engaged during the day ;
" Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the
Lord is risen upon thee." . . . "The glory of Lebanon
shall come unto thee, the fir-tree, the pine-tree, and the
box together, to beautify the place of My sanctuary ; and
I will make the place of My feet glorious."
A careful observation of the fixed and changing cycle
of Sunday Scriptures will show such subjects frequently
occurring, either in regular order or by accidental com
bination. Nor must it be forgotten that I have as yet
made no reference to another inexhaustible source of
wealth for sermon subjects stored up in the Book of
Psalms as used in Divine service. Often and often will
one of the Psalms, or a verse of one, bring in, with the
most pointed application to current events, such an appli
cation as hardly any thoughtful mind can fail to notice,
and as ought not to be passed over by the preacher.
" Except the Lord build the house " on a Sunday in the
midst of some national or local trouble, is a warning to
he had read the example of our Lord s sufferings; and was greatly sur
prised when the hishop told him it was the second lesson for the morning
in the calendar. It is very singular that the same chapter is also the
second lesson on the morning of the twenty -ninth of May, the day of the
Restoration, the special service for which was framed with as direct a refer
ence to the one event as to the other.
140 THE MINISTRY OF GOU s WORD.
look up to His Providential care ; or a verse so pointed
as, " Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord. . . . His
seed shall be mighty upon earth," on a day when England
was laying the Prince Consort in his grave, with a respect
and sorrow which was not unmingled with thoughts of
the future he had won for himself and his children by
his conscientious fulfilment of duties as in the sight of
God. And whether or not such special applications arise,
as they do arise continually, the five or six Psalms which
are used on Sunday will be sure to furnish subjects appro
priate to the season, or suggestive in themselves ; or else
to start a train of teaching, which may for a few sermons
supersede the choice of texts and subjects from other
parts of Holy Scripture. As an illustration of the latter
point, may be named the occurrence of the forty-fifth
Psalm on the morning of Advent Sunday, when it natu
rally suggests four sermons ; (1) The Beauty of Him who
was fairer than the Children of Men, (2) The Power of
the Most Mighty, (3) The Everlasting Reign of the Son
of God, (4) The Marriage of Christ to His Church, as
proper to the four Sundays which usher in the Advent
of Christ to His state of humiliation. When Christmas
Day comes, and with it this Psalm as one of those belong
ing to it, the latter will be " sung with the understand
ing," as it never has been before by the congregation
who have listened to such Advent teaching; and some
who have never thought much about the Psalms before
may have their attention permanently fixed on their
inestimable devotional value.
Thus, a preacher need never complain of the paucity of
THE MINISTRY OF GOD s WORD. 141
subjects furnished him by the Scriptures of the day ; but
may rather ask himself, is life itself long enough fully to
avail himself of the stores which those portions alone of
the holy Bible contain ? Allowing himself plenty of free
dom for exceptional occasions, he will gladly adopt the rule
which so many good men have recommended and prac
tised; and will find it a growing source of benefit to
himself and his people.
With such sermons it will be quite possible to carry out
also that excellent principle which Archbishop Seeker
begged his clergy to adopt ; viz., that of making their
sermons "local," or adapting some part of them in such a
manner to the particular circumstances of the congregation,
as to give them additional point and interest. Of such
teaching we have the highest model given to us in the dis
courses of our Lord. Walking through the corn-fields He
speaks to His Apostles of sowing and reaping the spiritual
harvest of God s field and garner ; to the multitude
miraculously fed by Him in the wilderness, He speaks of
the " bread of God which cometh down from heaven ; "
when the water was borne in golden vessels from the pool
of Siloam to the altar at the Feast of Tabernacles, He
stood and cried, saying, " If any man thirst, let him come
unto Me and drink ; " when He stood by the sheep-gate,
at which the flocks passed through for sacrifice, His
sermon was of shepherds, sheep, and the one fold ; when
the great candlestick was being lighted up in the court
of the temple, He directed attention to Himself as the
"Light of the world." In the same manner, St. Paul
took advantage of the anxious reverence of the Athenians
142 THE MINISTRY OF GOT) s WORD.
in the erection of an altar to the unknown God ; of the
Isthmian games, when he wrote to the Corinthians about
"striving for the mastery;" while, to come down to a
later date, and a lower authority, St. Chrysostom made
large capital of temporary circumstances when he preached
his splendid sermons on the statues ; as he did on many
other occasions 8 .
Pithy and telling applications of Scripture may be
made, by following in the path thus pointed out; and
they will sink into the memory of those who hear them.
So I have heard a preacher on the morning of the ninth
Sunday after Trinity apply the lesson of Elijah s sacrifice
to the "halting" of his own flock between the "two
opinions" symbolized by the Church and the meeting
house ; and on another day quaintly but effectively com
paring the Dan and Bethel worship of Jeroboam to the
Anabaptist meeting at one end of his parish, and the
primitive Methodist at the other. Two parishes were
greatly interested in a rival foot-race, which the preacher
followed up on the following Sunday with a sermon on
the Christian race of St. Paul. In a church on the
borders of Dartmoor, he illustrated the parable of the lost
sheep by reference to the wilderness country with which
every hearer was daily familiar ; and turned the same
locality to good account also in expounding the parable of
the sower. In a similar manner, a club feast will naturally
suggest the topic of " bearing one another s burdens ;"
busy times, "man going forth to his work and to his
8 St. Chrysostom is an admirable model for a modern town preacher.
THE MINISTRY OF GOD s WORD. 143
labour until the evening;" and harvest, a multitude of
subjects of the most practical nature in which the working-
day thoughts of working people, and of others too, may be
so followed up on the day of rest, as to infuse a good tone
into their minds in connexion with the labours of the
season, during the following six days. Nothing more
keeps people in mind of God s continual presence with
them, and of their general responsibility to Him for their
working hours, as well as for those during which they are
at Divine service, listening to the preacher.
By adopting the extensive scheme of subjects
J J Continual
thus suggested, a clergyman may effectually novelty thus
guard against a danger to which all settled *
preaching by the same person must, in some degree, be
liable, that of sameness and want of novelty. There will
be an attractive freshness about all the sermons of the
good householder who brings out of his treasury things
new and old ; and it is not unlikely that the familiar voice
of a pastor so diligently applying his studies to the office
of preaching, may be far more pleasant to his flock than
that of any stranger, however good a preacher.
. Plain Preaching.
What is called plain preaching very often deserves to be
called so on that euphemistic principle which leads every
courteous person to abstain from the use of the word
" ugly." The idea of plainness has been carried so far
that one may sometimes hear a sermon, in which there are
words and figures of speech that cannot be redeemed from
the charge of being " slang." Once I heard, to my horror,
144 THE MINISTRY OF GOD s WORD.
"Now, you boys in the gallery, I am going to tell you
something about the devil," and the "telling" was in
corresponding style. To mention sins, or the evil one in
coarse language or familiar, is to lower the true dignity of
the pulpit without gaining any real plainness of speech by
the substitution of it for the simple, unaffected English of
the Bible.
A " plain sermon " is properly a sermon in which the
ideas, arguments, and illustrations are of a character to
be understood by imperfectly-educated people of ordinary
intelligence ; and the language such as is mostly contained
in the ordinary vocabulary of the class addressed. In one
of Augustus Hare s sermons he speaks of smuggling and
buying of smugglers, of poaching and buying of poachers.
In another, referring to the increase of comforts among
the poor, he speaks of tea and wheaten bread. A re
viewer, praising this language, as being plain without
being undignified, suggests that most preachers of that
day would have shrunk from such straightforward ex
pressions, and " would infallibly have warned these poor
people on the downs against holding any intercourse with
the nocturnal marauders on the main or on the manor ;
and have suggested the gratitude they owed for a fragrant
beverage and farinaceous food 9 ." This illustration is a
very fair one ; but at the same time it must be understood
that it is a mistake to try what may be called a " free and
easy style," in which constant reference is made to the
9 Quarterly Review, lix. 36. This review was written by the late Professor
Blunt, and contains many valuable remarks on village preaching, which are
not incorporated into his " Duties of the Parish Priest."
THE MINISTRY OF GOD S WORD.
145
circumstances of the poor, labourers and others, as if to
show how condescending the preacher can be. Such
references may be made, as I have already shown, with
great advantage on fit occasions ; but ought always to be
made with dignity as well as simplicity. Nor should they
be made too frequently, even if the congregation is com
posed wholly of the poor ; for just as poor people like
those books best which tell them about those who live in
ranks somewhat above them, so they like to go away
from their own special habits sometimes in sermons, and a
constant harping upon their pursuits palls on their ears,
and loses its force. This is an exaggeration of [plainness
analogous to the great anxiety once shown to use " pure
Anglo-Saxon words" in preaching, without considering
that many Anglo-Saxon words are as Greek to the un
educated, while many Anglo-French or Anglo-Latin words
are part of their familiar language. In respect to language,
indeed, there is much variation in the extent of the current
vocabulary. London people of the labouring classes use
and understand language of a much higher kind than do
Devonshire labourers ; and I remember once asking my way
of a turnpike-keeper near Cambridge, when she directed me
to go straight forward until the roads divaricated, and
then turn to the right. It is terribly cramping, especially
in extempore preaching, for an educated man to confine
himself entirely to the limited vocabulary of an out-of-the-
way district. In such cases relief may sometimes be found
in the use of synonymous expressions, e. g., "So our
spiritual state is in constant oscillation, ever swinging
backwards and forwards between good and evil." Thus
146 THE MINISTRY OF GOD S WORD.
the educated mind is satisfied with the word that naturally
comes uppermost, and the uneducated with the idea in its
own tongue.
A golden rule in respect to plain preaching is to avoid
many-syllable words as much as possible. Another is to
use quotations from Holy Scripture freely, sometimes
reading them out from the Bible, and at others quoting
the substance as it occurs to the memory, being careful
not to run into any misrepresentation of the text. A third
is to avoid the use of the editorial " we " in the pulpit,
and to speak naturally, of yourself as " I," yourself and
others as " we " or " you and I," not being afraid even of
the more strictly personal " you " on fit occasions.
. Composition of Sermons.
I feel so little confidence in any set of rules for the
composition of sermons, that I shall not venture to say
much on this particular head ; though what has gone
before is all of such a nature as to form some sort of guide
to the work in question. Bishop Wilkins, in his " Eccle-
siastes," groups the essentials of a sermon under the three
heads, method, matter, and expression ; each of which " do
contribute mutual assistance to the other. A good method
will direct to proper matter ; and fitting matter will enable
for good expression." Mr. Gresley, in his " Ecclesiastes
Anglicanus," gives a more extended plan to which the
reader may refer, if he is desirous of testing the value of
elaborate directions on the subject. Perhaps the concise
triplet, Knowledge, interest, and zeal, or Know your
subject, be interested in it, and mean what you say, con-
THE MINISTRY OF GOD s WORD. 147
tains almost all the rules that one person can lay down for
another with advantage. For the talent of preaching is
to be acquired not by rule, but by that careful study which
makes a " full man," that habit of writing which makes
an " exact man," and that habit of speaking which makes
a " ready man ;" and the cultivation of these with a special
direction towards the composition and delivery of sermons,
is the only way in which any clergyman can hope to fulfil
the duty laid upon him as a preacher, with satisfaction to
himself or profit to his audience.
. Extempore Preaching.
The habit of preaching written sermons only was so
general at no long-distant period, that if a clergyman did
otherwise, he was almost sure to be considered a dissenter
at heart. Yet it is probable that very few sermons were
ever written down by the preacher himself until a com
paratively recent age of the Church ; and the habit is
nowhere to be found so common as in the Church of
England. Bishop Burnet says that the 1 practice of writing
down sermons originated in the strong party-spirit of the
Reformation times, which made it necessary for preachers
to have the evidence of a written page to produce in case
of accusations brought against them by the opposite party.
But Charles II. issued a proclamation to the University of
Cambridge against the reading of sermons, in which it is
said the practice " took its beginning from the disorders of
the late times," and it is characterized as a " supine and
slothful way of preaching," contrary to the "usage of
foreign churches," " of the University heretofore," and to
L 2
148 THE MINISTRY OF GOD s WORD.
the "nature of that holy exercise." It may possibly have
been in obedience to this proclamation, that the finest
preacher of written sermons that age produced endeavoured
to preach extemporaneously before the king, but found
himself so utterly wanting in words to begin with, that
with the ejaculation, " Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner,"
he descended from the pulpit, to receive the witty king s
compliments on his sermon of seven words, as the finest
his Majesty had ever heard. Probably also this incident
prompted South s verdict that extempore preaching is
"sottish." At any rate the anecdote proves that the
habit of using written sermons had become so ingrained
that no royal proclamation was likely to alter it *.
Yet there certainly is something "contrary to the
nature of that holy exercise " in the practice of preaching
from a manuscript book ; and an analogous habit would
not be tolerated in any other place where men speak in
public. It is tolerated in the case of clergymen chiefly
because preaching is a necessity of their profession, and it
is supposed that as very few persons in the world are
gifted with the faculty of speaking without book, therefore
very few clergymen will be able to do so. Something of
the same idea used to be held with respect to the faculty of
1 A happy anecdote is told of Sanderson and Hammond. The latter had
persuaded the former to preach from memory to a country congregation,
and with much difficulty the great divine boggled through a few minutes
lecture. " Neither yon nor any man living," said he to Hammond, " shall
ever persuade me to preach again without my books." " Good doctor,"
Hammond replied, " be not angry ; for if ever I persuade you to preach
again without book, I will give you leave to burn all the books that I am
master of."
THE MINISTRY OF GOD s WORD. 149
original composition in our native language ; but so many
of the educated young people of our own day are able to
write fluently and sensibly, that this idea is becoming
exploded, and original composition is looked upon more
as an accomplishment than a natural gift. It appears to
me that the expression of ideas by word of mouth is
likewise an accomplishment, and that it will become far
more common among the clergy when an honest endeavour
is made by them to educate themselves in this accomplishment
by study and practice. It is impossible to think of the
extemporaneous speaking of many ignorant dissenting
preachers otherwise than as an acquired " knack." Their
fluent speaking often extends to a thirty or forty minutes
discourse, however few may be the ideas contained in it ;
and it is simply absurd to suppose that educated gentlemen
cannot acquire the same habit of speaking in public without
book.
The first step towards training for public speaking, and
therefore for extempore preaching, should be analogous to
the first step in learning to write Latin verses. It would
be a good thing if the oratorical power of our boys was
drawn out for a while by nonsense speeches. Certainly no
educated man, clergyman or layman, will ever acquire in
years of maturity, the faculty of speaking good sense
fluently unless he is daring enough to go through a period
of practice in which he is content to cast off self-criticism
to the winds. He must first learn to speak easily, saying
things the best way he can, but at all events, easily, and
then to speak sensibly. Let him declaim to the book
shelves in his study ; or if he has a patient wife, let her
150 THE MINISTRY OF GOD s WORD.
be the suffering audience, she will forgive and forget a
great deal of nonsense, and he will find that after a very
few trials he will be able to cast nonsense speeches aside,
and try his hand on something serious.
For a first essay at actual preaching without book, it
will be wise to preach extemporaneously with book. First,
let the sermon be written out as usual : secondly, let a
marginal index be made on the blank page, more or less
full as confidence is felt in the preacher s powers of speech,
and taking care that the connexion between the paragraphs
on the right, and the index on the left, is clear and sound.
The preacher would then go into the pulpit with the
marginal index on the left hand, as an apparatus for
extemporizing when he felt in the happy vein for doing
so; and with the full sermon on the right, as a solid
resource when he felt that he could not do so with comfort
to himself, or with edification of his hearers. At first, it
will be well for him to attempt a portion of his sermon
here and there ; and by perseverance in the habit, he will
find himself gradually depending less and less on the right-
hand page, and trusting almost entirely to the margin.
After some months practice, he will find that he can trust
himself to substitute a note for a paragraph in the com
position of his sermon, and after a few months more will
one day venture to preach with such notes alone before
him. Perhaps he may think it wise to stop here; or
perhaps he will find that he may as well, sometimes at
least, discard even notes, and think extemporaneously as well
as preach so. In my opinion, the wisest course is to use
both ways according to circumstances, preaching from
THE MINISTRY OF GOD S WORD. 151
notes when a sermon requires argument, and doing without
them when it is of an expository character. But whatever
advantages there may be in extemporaneous preaching,
they are nearly as great when the language is extem
porized, and the ideas written down, as when both are
given without the aid of paper 2 .
By adopting this gradual method, I have known a
preacher who originally depended entirely on his MS.,
and was yet able, after a few years, to go to the pulpit
on an emergency and preach for half an hour without
a moment s preparation, and without faltering or talking
nonsense ; and I quite believe that such a task might be
accomplished by any well-read clergyman of ordinary
self-possession.
Of the respective advantages of written and extempore
sermons there is something to be said on both sides.
None but a very able man indeed should venture to preach
an unwritten sermon before a highly-educated and sensi
tively critical audience ; while, on the other hand, any
man of ordinary talent, who has trained himself on the
2 Sermon notes were largely used by the famous preachers of the seven
teenth and eighteenth centuries. Archbishop Seeker speaks of preaching
from notes as the habit of his predecessors, and says that when well managed
it is perhaps better than either written or extemporized sermons. Baxter
says that he used notes as largely as any man, except when he was too lazy
or too busy. Bishops Bull and Burnet men of opposite sides in Theology
both used notes. Erasmus asserts that there is evidence of St. Augustine
having done so. Neither Bull nor Burnet really needed them. Of the
former it is told that his notes being on one occasion blown away by a gust
of wind, he preached better without them ; and of the latter, that being called
on suddenly to preach a consecration sermon, Archbishop Tillotson declared
it to have been the finest he ever heard.
152 THE MINISTRY OF GOD s WORD.
plan I have suggested, may profitably preach " without
book " to a village congregation. Every clergyman ought
to be able to avail himself freely of both methods, and
not slavishly to confine himself to either alone. If a very
exact statement of any question with which he is not
familiar should be needed, such, for instance, as of the
Christian law of marriage, a written sermon will pro
bably be the best, or at least full notes, even in a village
church. But whether for such a purpose, or for ordinary
preaching before an ordinarily well-informed town con
gregation, much must, of course, depend on the exact
ness and point with which a preacher is able to speak
readily.
That extemporaneous sermons would be best on all
occasions I have no doubt, provided that on all occa
sions clergymen could be ordinarily fluent and ordinarily
exact ; and I think the exceptions must be regulated by
these two qualities of fluency and exactness. "Whatever
prejudice exists against such preaching, is founded on the
very just objection which men of sense have to hearing
preachers wander away into floods of trashy fluency, or
boggle over arguments in which the arguer loses his logic
and exasperates his hearers. But both of these faults
a clergyman can guard against easily. He should acquire
the power of expressing himself in good plain English, on
any subject of which he has a good knowledge ; and then
take care to fill himself with that particular knowledge
which is required for the sermon or sermons he is about
to preach. If these precautions were taken, the prejudice
spoken of would naturally die away.
THE MINISTRY OF GOD s WORD. 153
There cannot be a doubt that it is a great advantage
to a congregation to hear a sermon delivered with ani
mation and warmth ; but these both seem and are arti
ficial when connected closely with a written discourse
from which the preacher dare not raise his eyes. There
must always be nearly as much difference between the
tone of a man speaking without book, and that of one
reading from book, as there is between the tones ob
servable in reading and in conversation. An amount of
emphatic repetition (not repetition for want of thoughts
to make variety) is also allowable to oneself in extempore
speaking, which would offend the taste on paper 3 . And,
still more, a freedom in the choice of words which will
make the speaker more acceptable and more intelligible
to his hearers.
Again, the preacher and his hearers are more perfectly
en rapport when he is speaking to them without reading.
The eye has more life in it, even if the speaker is not
consciously using it for the purpose of assisting his words.
His attitude is such as to show that the people he is
addressing axe first in his mind, not a little MS. book on
the pulpit desk. The appeal is more direct, and can
hardly fail to be more warm in manner even if the very
words are used which would be used in reading 4 . Alto
gether there is a more perfect feeling of "reality," a
quality, for the sake of which many defects will be
3 Many speeches and sermons which read well, fail in delivery to produce
an effect on popular audiences from being too condensed.
4 Let me add, that happy thoughts and expressions occur to the mind on
the moment in extemporaneous preaching which no labour of thought in
the study would evolve.
154 THE MINISTRY OF GOD s WORD.
condoned, in preachers as well as others, by the age we
live in. Assuredly, an extempore sermon may be a very
dull one, as well as a written one, but a dull written
sermon would lose much of its dulness if delivered ex
tempore by an animated preacher. While, if the preacher
is a reasonably- accomplished man, if he feels what he
says, if he says what he has to say with animation and
spirit, it is scarcely likely that he will realize the picture
of the country vicar drawn by Sir "Walter Scott :
" Dry were his sermons, though his walls were wet."
The sermons of a dull man must be dull, of an ignorant
man, ignorant, whether they are extemporized or writ
ten. But I feel no doubt, that of two sermons, containing
the same ideas, and preached by the same person, one
being delivered from ideas thought out beforehand, in
language found on the spur of the moment, and the other
read; the former will be far more impressive in every
way than the latter, and more productive of spiritual
good.
A great advantage of extemporaneous preaching to
the clergyman himself is the time gained. A twenty
minutes sermon takes up about five hours in the mere
mechanical process of writing ; and few men will be able
to compose it in a single day, though the whole of the
day be emploved. For two written sermons a week, I
suppose most clergymen are obliged to reckon the better
part of three days, if they are, as they ought to be, well
done. But where the preacher depends on the moment
for his language, and only requires to " think out " his
THE MINISTRY OF GOD s WORD. 155
sermons beforehand, he may (if a properly studious man)
reckon a day as the utmost that will be required for
putting two ordinary sermons into such a form that he
can easily preach them from notes or without notes.
If he is a methodical man, keeps a book of texts and
subjects, a common-place book for jotting down sermon
ideas ; and arranges his Scriptural studies so that they
run in the same course with his preaching, far less time
even than this will be necessary ; and perhaps the pencil
notes of half an hour s thought will enable him to preach
an excellent and conscientious sermon on any Gospel or
Epistle in the Prayer Book.
Thus the advantages of extemporaneous preaching
are great, both to the pastor and the flock ; there is no
reason why it should be either shallow in substance, or
offensive in delivery; and the clergyman may as effi
ciently and conscientiously perform his duty of preaching
often with a small, as with a large expenditure of time. If
he applies himself studiously, conscientiously, and with
good taste to extempore preaching, there is no reason
why it should not as much promote the glory of God
and the salvation of souls in the nineteenth century as it
did in the age of Chrysostom or Augustine.
. Reliance on the Chief Pastor.
Before parting with the subject, I desire to impress
my reader strongly with the necessity of always preach
ing in faithful dependence on the grace of God the Holy
Ghost, given for that purpose, as well as on human
diligence, eloquence, and method. These latter may
156 THE MINISTRY OF GOD S WORD.
abound, but they will need the coal from off the altar
if they are to lead to a spiritual result, the grace of
God conveyed thence to the preacher, kindling the grace
of God in the hearer. That grace is so given to clergy
men by their ordination, that they have only, as it may
be said, to summon its presence by a faithful seeking
it in prayer, and they will receive it. A silent ejaculation
of the heart for this should go up from time to time in
every sermon ; a prayer that God s Word may be truly
and faithfully ministered by His grace given to the
preacher, and that it may be truly and effectually re
ceived, by the same grace, into good ground which will
bring forth fruit to perfection.
Above all, let the preacher ask of God, that he may
have a right understanding of His Word, that he may
be a faithful dispenser of it in fact as well as in inten
tion; and to this end, also, let him live much in the
presence of God, that by that means he may gain more
and more knowledge of Him to convey to his flock. In
respect to preaching, as to all other spiritual knowledge,
our gifts must come from God ; in respect to it, therefore,
as of other gifts, the preacher should take up the tone of
the Psalmist s words, and after all legitimate human
endeavours have been used, yet look to the " Light of the
world " for the vivification of all, and say, " In Thy light
shall we see lisht."
CHAPTER V.
THE MINISTRY OF THE SACRAMENTS.
IT is essential to an efficient discharge of pastoral duties,
that the clergyman entrusted with cure of souls should
have definite ideas as to the requirements of his position
as " a faithful dispenser of God s holy sacraments," as
well as of his office as a " faithful dispenser of the Word
of God." For " the ministration of the holy sacraments,
in the congregation where he shall be lawfully appointed
thereunto," is not a mere mechanical work, the whole
obligation of which is fulfilled by a perfunctory recitation
of certain appointed words, and performance of certain
appointed actions. Exactness in these is undoubtedly
necessary to a faithful ministration of the sacraments ;
but important duties belong to the pastor as a " steicard
of the mysteries of God;" and, without restricting the
term mysteries (as so used) to the two sacraments, it is
beyond doubt that they are included, and that stewardship
is part of a pastor s duty in respect to them.
It will be my object, in the present chapter, to offer
a practical guide to this portion of a clergyman s work ;
viewing the sacraments of Baptism and the Holy Com-
158 THE MINISTRY OF THE SACRAMENTS.
nmnion as essential parts of the pastoral system; and
treating midway of confirmation, as the link by which they
are theoretically and practically joined together.
It has been truly observed, that the sacraments are
means of grace, not sources of grace; and that to make
them sources of grace would be to put them in the place
of Christ. No duty can well be higher on the part of
the pastor, as regards his flock, than that of training
them in the truth that Christ s person is the original
fountain of Christian grace, the Holy Spirit its original
minister, and the place of sacraments in the Christian
system, that of means, media, by which that grace is
administered by the agents of God the Holy Spirit ; those
to whom the words, " Receive ye the Holy Ghost," have
been said to that very end. To regard them, either for
teaching or use, as more than channels by which streams
of grace are brought down from the Fountain-head,
would be as great an error as to suppose them less than
the efficacia signa which they are declared to be in the
Twenty-fifth Article of Religion ; and the pastor may have
to guard himself and others from these mistakes both in
theory and in practice.
The general principle to be adopted as the
foundation of true theory and practice respect
ing the sacraments is, that they are the means
by which God co-operates with man in his endeavour
after Christian life. The grace given in Baptism places
the person baptized in the position of a pardoned sinner,
who begins from the time of Baptism to stand in a new
relation to God ; being accounted His child by spiritual
THE MINISTRY OF THE SACRAMENTS. 159
adoption as well as by natural creation, and receiving
spiritual as well as natural gifts from Him. The grace
given in the Holy Communion enables the Christian to
live a Christian life by the power of God assisting him,
which he could not live by his own unassisted ability.
But, since co-operation of God with man necessarily re
quires that man on his part should co-operate with God,
therefore the Divine grace given through these media is
not irresistible, but may be made ineffectual by unworthy
reception of either ; the unworthy reception being also, in
itself, a sin.
Such a general principle respecting the Sa
craments necessarily leads to a responsibility pensation of
on the part of those to whom their ininistra- * ">" .
substance in
tion is entrusted. A sacrament is constituted administer-
by an " outward form" and an " inward grace."
Without entering into any theological discussion as to
the degree in which the latter is tied to the former,
it may be assumed that a certain ministerial responsibility
rests on every clergyman that he faithfully dispense both
sacraments so constituted. Firstly, in respect to those
essentials of form and substance which are set forth in
their respective offices in the Prayer Book , he is not at
1 In administering Baptism, for example, it is a very imperfect way of
currying out the sense of the Lord s injunction ^airrl^ovrts avrovs, to dip
the fingers in the water arid sprinkle such drops an may chance to adhere to
them upon the child perhaps upon its cap or frock. As the primary in
junction of the rubric which literally fulfilled our Lord s command is cus
tomarily set aside for the permission, " it shall suffice to pour water upon
it," care should be taken that the infant s cap is removed, and water actually
poured upon its head from the hollow of the hand, or from a silver shell, as
is the custom in some churches. It is true that medieval writers assert
160 THE MINISTRY OF THE SACRAMENTS.
liberty to administer them otherwise than " as the Lord
hath commanded, and as this Church and Realm hath
received the same ;" and he has no right to deviate from
rules which were evidently pared down by the Reformers
to what those learned men considered the barest essentials,
and which have been so considered by the most learned
men of later days. And, secondly, he is also responsible
in respect to the persons to whom the sacraments are
administered, that they are such as are intended to receive
the same, whether for admission into, or establishment in
the body mystical of Christ. Of these several particulars
it will be convenient to treat more in detail under the
head of each of the two sacraments separately.
. Holy Baptism.
Among the rules of the Church of England
aP " res P ectin g Hol y Baptism, the first that meets
us is the one which directs that it is to be ordi
narily administered in time of Divine service "upon
Sundays or other holy days." At one time it had become
very common for this sacrament to be administered in
private houses whenever the parents wished that it should
be so ; and few children, except those of the poor, were
brought to Church to be baptized in the last generation.
In our own time private baptisms in houses are exceptional,
and seldom take place for any other reason than dangerous
illness ; but although the rule of the Prayer Book is so
the validity of Baptism if even a single drop of water accompanies the
words ; but there is no necessity for reducing the quantity used to the very
verge of pretence.
THE MINISTRY OF THE SACRAMENTS. 161
far complied with that children are brought to the Church
to be christened, it is still very common for christenings
to be performed on week-days, when fewest persons are
present at Divine service ; or at some time on Sundays when
there is no congregation present except those who have
come to act as sponsors.
The title of the service is, however, " The Ministration
of Public Baptism of Infants, to be used in the Church;" and
the rubrics state in detail some forcible reasons why the
practice of the Church should agree with this title. " The
people are to be admonished, that it is most convenient
that baptism should not be administered but upon Sundays,
and other holy days> when ihe most number of people come
together ; as well for that the congregation there present
may testify the receiving of them that be newly baptized
into the number of Christ s Church; as also because in
the baptism of infants every man present may be put in
remembrance of his own profession made to God in his
baptism. For which cause also it is expedient that baptism
be ministered in the vulgar tongue." And in the rubric
preceding the service for private baptism, " the curates of
every parish " are ordered to warn the people that " without
great cause and necessity, they procure not their children
to be baptized at home in their houses." And still
further to secure the presence of a congregation, the
service for baptism is appointed to be used in the midst
of Morning or Evening Prayer, after the reading of the
second lesson.
The two reasons stated in the rubric are in themselves
deserving of such respectful attention as should ensure
M
162 THE MINISTRY OF THE SACRAMENTS.
obedience to the rule, even if there were no others. But
it may also be said, in addition, that the public minis
tration of baptism is much calculated to strengthen the
halting faith of our people in the reality of the ordinance ;
that a familiarity with the words of the service will open
out to them a flood of meaning which otherwise they would
fail to see in other parts of the Church system ; and that
each ministration of the sacrament is a sermon to the eye
and ear of the congregation which makes it less needful
to urge its necessity upon them as the parents and
guardians of children, and teaches by devotion instead of by
controversy. Any inconveniences which may arise from
the practice of really public baptism are trifling when set
against such great advantages ; but perhaps the only two
actual inconveniences that could be named are, the
additional length of the service, and the want of suitable
arrangements in some of our overcrowded churches, where
pews have elbowed the font into an obscure corner 2 .
The service will certainly be much increased in length
when the number of baptisms is large ; and in extreme
cases, such as the great churches of London and manu
facturing towns, it might be expedient to consider the
afternoon service as one so especially set apart for baptisms
that no sermon follows the prayers. Where baptisms are
only occasional this inconvenience is hardly worth a
thought, considering the greatness of the benefit gained ; but
2 Not always pews. A friend was restoring his church some fifteen years
ago, when the architect requested leave to remove the font, a very large
one of black marble, that he might substitute " a neat little basin which
would not occupy any room."
THE MINISTRY OF THE SACRAMENTS. 163
even then the additional length of the service may easily
be balanced by a few minutes taken from the sermon.
As to the other objection to public baptism, all that can
be said is, that the law of the Church is very plain, that
very good reasons are assigned in the law itself why it
should be obeyed, and that there are other special reasons
applicable to our own times; and consequently, that a
clergyman placed under circumstances which are so un
favourable that he cannot carry out this rule of the
Church, ought not to rest satisfied until he has procured
authority and means for making the necessary changes.
In the early part of the last century, Bishop Bull said in a
charge to his clergy respecting the practice of " hiding "
baptism, " If private baptism (cases of necessity excepted)
may be allowed, away with the fonts in your churches !
What do they signify ? To what purpose are they there ?"
and his words may suggest a necessity for reformation
even in our own day 3 -
Although, however, public baptism in time p^ vlAe
of Divine service is the ordinary rule of the Baptism.
Church, provision is made for "the ministration of private
baptism of children in houses ; " and the clergyman who
wishes to act both according to the spirit and the letter of the
Prayer Book will often be placed in a position of some doubt
and embarrassment by requests for such private baptism to
3 It is better not to use an ordinary domestic vessel for private baptism.
I have always used a silver shell (above five inches across) mounted on three
dolphins, which was formerly a salt-cellar. It is gilded inside, and seems a
suitable pattern of a vessel for the purpose. The silver " fonts " made are
not suitable, as the water cannot be conveniently poured on to the child s
head from them.
H 2
164 TPIE MINISTRY OF THE SACRAMENTS.
be administered in cases where there seems to be no such
" great cause and necessity " as is contemplated by the
rubric. This is chiefly to be found among the poor and
labouring classes in town-parishes, among whom the
number of sickly infants is certainly very great, though
the private baptism of many new-born children is desired
when there is no sickness in the case. Several causes
exist to make even the irreligious poor wish for the baptism
of their children. Most burial clubs make it a rule not to
pay the burial money for those that have not been bap
tized, and thus the rule of the Church as to the absence
of religious ceremony in the burial of the unbaptized has
come to be more generally known. Parents are, therefore,
averse on both grounds to leaving their children un-
christened, who would be wholly indiiferent about it other
wise ; and often send for the clergyman to the house
for no other reason than that they wish to get the for
mality over as soon as possible, that they may be free
from any anxiety. Such cases are clearly not within the
range of the rule of the Church, as to " great cause and
necessity."
At the same time, the Sixty-ninth Canon is very strict
in requiring the clergyman (rector, vicar, or curate in sole
charge as their substitute 4 ) to baptize every infant in
danger of death, and enjoins a severe punishment for
neglect in this particular. " If any minister, being duly,
without any manner of collusion, informed of the weak
ness and danger of death of any infant unbaptized in his
4 Curates to resident rectors were all but unknown until the last sixty
or seventy years. See Appendix A.
THE MINISTRY OF THE SACRAMENTS. 165
parish, and thereupon desired to go or come to the place
where the said infant remaineth, to baptize the same,
shall either wilfully refuse so to do, or of purpose, or of
gross negligence, shall so defer the time, as, when he
might conveniently have resorted to the place, and have
baptized the said infant, it dieth, through such his default,
unbaptized ; the said minister shall be suspended for
three months." The clergyman is therefore bound to
administer baptism privately, in case of real necessity,
as much as he is bound not so to administer it unless such
necessity is real. And, experience having shown that
there is " collusion " or pretence of necessity in these
days as there was when the Canon was made, he is bound
to use his best discretion in distinguishing the cases
where real " danger of death " exists from those in which
there is no such danger. In some instances, the "col
lusion " may be detected by a little questioning as to the
actual reason for wishing the child to be baptized ; or by
the absence of medical attendance, showing that no
danger is supposed to exist, a circumstance which,, if
combined with healthy appearance of the infant, is almost
a certain guide. But far the safest plan is, to require
a certificate from the medical attendant in any doubtful
case, the moral effect of the knowledge that it will be
required being quite as valuable in its results, as the
assurance thus given to the clergyman that he is doing
his duty.
The pastor of a large parish has often also
to determine, and perhaps without much time
being given for deliberation, on the course
166 THE MINISTRY OF THE SACRAMENTS.
which it is his duty to take with respect to children not
baptized by himself, but alleged to have been baptized by
some other person ; and a conscientious mind will be
anxious to guard (1) against a repetition of the sacra
ment when it has been duly administered already " as the
Lord hath commanded, and as this Church and Realm
hath received the same;" or (2) against an omission of
the sacrament altogether, by a too easy conclusion that it
has been duly administered.
The line which he is to take in such cases is clearly
indicated by the exact questions in the service for Private
Baptism ; when, " if those that bring any child to the
Church, do answer that the same child is already bap
tized," he is directed to " examine them further," by
asking the four questions,
" By whom was this child baptized ?
" Who was present when this child was baptized ?
" With what matter was this child baptized ?
"With what words was this child baptized?"
But this is the language of scientific theology, and I have
never been able to obtain satisfactory answers to these
questions without first rendering them into current Eng
lish s . They show, however, very clearly what the prin
ciples of the Church of England are in respect to the
essentials of baptism, being followed up as they are by
the final rubric of the same office, which directs the
conditional form of words to be used if such uncertain
s I have actually found old women, (nurses and midwives,) contuse bap
tism and vaccination. It is very rarely that uneducated people understand
baptism and christening to be synonymous.
THE MINISTRY OF THE SACRAMENTS. 167
answers are given to " the priest s questions, as that it
cannot appear that the child was baptized with water, In
the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost, (which are essential parts of baptism,)" &c.
The question, whether such baptism is invalid, and to
be repeated, if not administered by a clergyman, has been
largely argued in the courts of law during the present
century ; and in the well-known cases of Kemp v. Wickes
(1809), before Sir John Nicholl; of Mastin. v. Escott,
before Sir Herbert Jenner (1841); and an appeal from
the latter, in which Lord Brougham gave the judgment ;
it has been decided in the negative. Archbishop Lau
rence, and other authorities, had previously written
against the idea that a clergyman was absolutely the
only lawful minister of baptism, in all cases ; and the
former says, " it was always the doctrine of the Reforma
tion that the element of water alone, united to the form
of words prescribed by our Saviour, constituted true
baptism 6 ." Thus, the substantial matter on which the
pastor has to make inquiry in such cases is, as to whether
the child, brought for admission into the Church or for
Christian burial, has been lawfully baptized by any
person ; and he must consider a Dissenting preacher, a
surgeon, or any other lay person as a lawful minister of
this sacrament. I have received many certificates of such
baptisms, in cases where infants, of whose names I had
no record in the register, were brought to me for burial ;
6 Laurence on the Doctrine of the Church of England on the Efficacy of
Baptism. Part II. p. 117. See also Maskell s " Holy Baptism," pp. 189
252, for a complete consideration of this question.
168 THE MINISTRY OF THE SACRAMENTS.
and of these I subjoin a few, printed (verbatim et literatim,
names excepted) from the originals, as offering good illus
trations from several points of view of the subject before
us. It may be stated that they come from a district
in which there are probably not more than 500 or 600
confirmed Church people out of 4000 inhabitants, and in
which there are two small churches, holding about 200
persons each, and seven meeting-houses ; the mother
church, some distance off, being situated in the midst of
another 4000.
1. From a Local Preacher.
This is Certify that Marg* , Child alfort was duely
Baptized by me
Step" -
Minister of the Cosple
2. From a Wesleyan Minister.
The child of Thomas was duly Babtized by me 011
the 29 th of May 186-.
Rich d
Wesleyan
Minister
THE MINISTRY OF THE SACRAMENTS. 169
3. From a Surgeon.
Dear Sir
The Child of Benj was Christened by me
according to the form in use amongst Surgeons here
Yours truly
J
Rev. Mr. Blunt.
4. From a Local Preacher.
Certificate of Baptism administered with water, in the
Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost,
This is to certify that William Son of Percivel and
Mary , of And was Baptized on the 3 Day
of November.
Matthew
Primitive Methodist
Local Preacher.
5. From a Local Preacher.
Moor.
This is to curtfye that I babized Mr. Robert s
child on the 26 of September 186-.
James .
170
THE MINISTRY OF THE SACRAMENTS.
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THE MINISTRY OF THE SACRAMENTS. 171
Although it is much to be wished that all children were
baptized by the clergy, yet it is manifestly desirable that
while irregular baptisms are so frequent as they are,
the proper way of working them into the system of the
Church is to adopt some such plan as these certificates
indicate ; and I think, also, that they tend to promote
a careful administration of the sacrament in such cases.
"With a certificate like that on the opposite page, there
need be no hesitation as to admitting the child into the
Church without the conditional form of baptism. Without
any certificate there would be much room for doubt whether
"some things essential to this sacrament may" not
" happen to be omitted," through ignorance, carelessness,
or indifference.
The public administration of baptism will
go far towards exhibiting to the people its its relation
proper place in the Christian system, and when to P storal
that place is recognized by any, they will gladly
and reverently avail themselves of the sacrament for their
children at as early a time as possible ; but there is much
ignorance on the subject, and it will form a part of the
pastor s labours to instruct his flock in the spiritual value
of baptism, as a means of grace wherein God pardons
the original sin which clings to us in our natural birth,
and draws us into an union with Christ, the maintenance
of which is the work of all the subsequent life of the
baptized. " A minister," says Bishop Burnet, " ought to
instruct his people frequently of the nature of baptism,
that they may not go about it merely as a ceremony, as
it is too visible the greater part do ; but that they may
172 THE MINISTRY OF THE SACRAMENTS.
consider it as the dedicating their children to God, the
offering them to Christ, and the holding them thereafter as
His ; directing their chief care about them to the breeding
them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord/
The more this is impressed upon parents, in sermons and
in private converse, the more ready will they be to bring
their children to be made the children of God. The
reality of God s love, and of His mysterious work in this
sacrament, may be set forth without at all entering into
controversy; the terms of the baptismal service itself
being sufficient ground on which to build. And if, by
thus setting forth God s love for the little children whom
He has commanded to be brought unto Him, the pastor can
wean his flock from looking upon the Christianing of their
children as a mere " naming " them ; if he can persuade
them that by that ordinance those children are taken
into His care in some special manner which must give
a birthright and a blessing to them, even if they should
afterwards cast these away; then it would be felt that
they were as much bound to provide for the baptism
of their little ones, as they are to provide for their bodily
wants; and that although only the clergyman can be
punished by man for wilfully neglecting to baptize them,
yet God cannot but visit on the parents a like neglect
on their parts, in the cruel withholding from them of a
blessing which He is ready to bestow.
The pastor himself will naturally be anxious to secure
early baptism for all the children of his flock. The rubric
enjoins him to "often admonish the people, that they
defer not the baptism of their children longer than the
THE MINISTRY OF THE SACRAMENTS. 173
first or second Sunday next after their birth ; " but custom
has fixed the time at about the fourth, when the mother
is also able to come to her Churching, and to be present
at her infant s baptism 7 . Beyond that time delay should
not be knowingly allowed without remonstrance ; although,
of course, in very populous parishes the clergyman will
not know of all, or nearly all, cases of such delay. But
he will always rejoice at early baptisms, in the conviction
that he is then putting the little ones of his flock into
God s hands, whatever their future may be; and that
he is laying the foundation of the Christian life at a
period of natural life when God s work on the soul can
meet with little or no resistance for some time from the
will of man. He will feel that he is originating the
material, so to speak, of his pastoral work; forming a
nucleus, around which parental and school instruction, a
pastor s care, and confirmation, are to gather; and that
he has added one more to the number of those respecting
whom he trusts to take up the words of his Master and
say, " Behold I, and the children whom Thou hast given
me," the lambs whom Thou hast commanded me to feed.
. Confirmation.
The convenience of systematic arrangement induces
7 It has been found extremely useful in promoting early baptisms for a
set of " Christening clothes " to be provided, or several, which are to be
lent out on the return of the bag or box connected with the Lying-in Club.
It should be simple, but better than mothers of the class can generally
provide. I have known a country parish where these Christening clothes
were almost as established an institution as the ancient Chrisom; and
certainly every one would wish to see children dressed in white when
brought to the font, rather than in the coloured clothes often used.
174 THE MINISTRY OF THE SACRAMENTS.
me to take the subject of Confirmation under review
immediately after considering that of Holy Baptism, and
before considering that of the Holy Communion ; for it
forms the natural link between the two in the pastoral
system as carried out by the bishop and his subordinate
pastor. But confirmation has always been accounted the
complement of baptism from the earliest ages of the
Church " : it seems, therefore, natural to include it in
the chapter which is devoted to the consideration of
that sacrament as part of the pastoral work and respon
sibility.
The special duty devolving upon the paro-
firmation n ~ chi&l clergy, in respect to this ordinance, is
very clearly set down in the Sixty-first Canon.
"Every minister that hath cure and charge of souls,
for the better accomplishing of the orders prescribed in
the Book of Common Prayer concerning confirmation,
shall take especial care that none shall be presented to
the bishop for him to lay his hands upon, but such as
can render an account of their faith, according to the
Catechism in the said book contained. And when the
bishop shall assign any time for the performance of that
part of his duty, every such minister shall use his best
endeavour to prepare and make able, and likewise to pro
cure as many as can to be then brought, and by the
bishop to be confirmed."
8 Canon LX. says, " It hath been a solemn, ancient, and laudable
custom in the Church of God, continued from the Apostles times, that
all bishops should lay their hands upon children baptized, and instructed
in the Catechism of Christian religion, praying over them, and blessing
them, which we commonly call Confirmation," &c.
THE MINISTRY OF THE SACRAMENTS. 175
The effect of the Reformation upon the office for con
firmation, as administered in the Church of England, was
to bring out more prominently into view that inherent
part of the ordinance which rests with the person to be
confirmed, the ratification of the baptismal vows 9 . In
early ages of the Church, the rite was administered at the
time of, or very soon after baptism, both to infants and
adults. But the confirmation of infants appears to have
been growing less common in the times before the Re
formation, three and seven years being mentioned in
synodal decrees of the thirteenth century as the period of
life beyond which it was not to be delayed. The Re
formers abolished the confirmation of infants, and sub
stituted the " Order of Confirmation, or laying on of hands
upon those that are baptized and come to years of dis
cretion;" declaring that "the Church hath thought good
to order, that none hereafter shall be confirmed, but such
as can say the Creed, the Lord s Prayer, and the Ten
Commandments ; and can also answer to such other ques
tions, as in the short Catechism are contained."
" Children now come to the years of discretion, and having
learned what their godfathers and godmothers promised
for them in baptism." In making this provision, it is
clear from the detailed history of the change that the
Reformers did not by any means intend to depress the
9 In the earlier Prayer Books the expression now printed "ratify and
confirm " was " ratify and confess." It need hardly be pointed out (except
that the mistake has been so frequently made), that a person is not con
firmed by their ratification of the baptismal vows. The kind of parono
masia in the use of the word " confirm " is not uncommon in the Prayer
Book. But such ratification is made a necessary preliminary.
176 THE MINISTRY OF THE SACRAMENTS.
exhibition of the rite as a means of grace. What the
laying on of hands had been in the ages preceding " con
tinued from the Apostles times," as stated in the Sixty-
first Canon, that it was still to be esteemed, but the rite
was only to be administered to those who were of age to
receive it with understanding.
This feature of Reformation action has been
Modern con
struction of carried much further in recent times than it
the law, dif- .
ferent from was carried by the Reformers ; and one strik-
persons who * n S an( ^ painful consequence has been the dimi-
madeit. nution of the number of young communi
cants l . The Reformed Church maintained its ancient
practice of not administering the Holy Communion to
any except those who were either confirmed or ready
and desirous to be so ; but the age of sixteen years was
considered to be the latest time at which persons should
first receive it, and the Reformers must therefore have
intended that confirmation should take place at some time
before that age. Thus, the 112th Canon enjoins that "the
minister, churchwardens, quest-men, and assistants of
every parish-church and chapel, shall yearly, within forty
days after Easter, exhibit to the bishop or his chancellor
the names and surnames of all the parishioners, as well
men as women, which being of the age of sixteen years, re
ceived not the communion at Easter before." And since
1 After a confirmation in the Eastern Counties, seven or eight young
people attended at the Holy Communion. Their attendance was so unpre
cedented, that some of the old communicants actually began to sign a
memorial to the clergyman requesting him to forbid it, as the communion
was meant for old, not young people. This idea is seldom carried so far,
but it is latent in the minds of many.
THE MINISTRY OF THE SACRAMENTS. 177
Confirmations are expressly ordered by the Sixtieth Canon
to be performed according to the custom of "former
ages " " every third year," this shows that so early an age
even as twelve or thirteen was not considered too early for
it to take place. This was, in fact, the actual age stated
in the interpretation of Queen Elizabeth s injunctions
which was drawn up by authority about 1559 ; in which
it is directed, " That children be not admitted to the com
munion before the age of twelve or thirteen years, being
of good discretion, and well instructed before 3 ." Arch
bishop Grindall enjoined " all above fourteen years of age
to receive in their own churches the communion three
times at least in the year 3 ." The same age is also to be
found mentioned in Articles of Inquiry of later date, down
to about the time when the administration of confirma
tion became so infrequent in the last century. It is clear,
therefore, that the " years of discretion " required in
candidates were supposed by the Reformers (even in
those days of scanty education) to be reached at twelve or
thirteen, perhaps the earliest age at which the generality
of children could then " say the Creed, the Lord s Prayer,
and the Ten Commandments in the vulgar tongue, and be
further instructed in the Church Catechism set forth for
that purpose 4 ." In modern times, however, we often
see confirmation delayed until young people have grown
to be seventeen or eighteen years of age, or even older
But if, as the first preface to the office stated, " Con-
2 Cardwell s Documentary Annals, i. 206. 3 Ibid. i. 336.
4 At the moment of writing, a little boy is learning his Latin lesson at
my table, who certainly comes up to this standard of religious knowledge>
though not yet ten years of age.
178 THE MINISTRY OF THE SACRAMENTS.
Keturn to firmation is ministered to them that be bap-
Refonnation tized, that by imposition of hands and prayer
construction
of the law they may receive strength and defence against
all temptations to sin, and the assaults of the
world and the devil," these young persons are deprived
for some years of a means of grace in confirmation, and of
the higher grace of the Holy Communion at a time of life
when they are passing from the innocency of childhood
to the fuller capacity for, and knowledge of, sin. As
this is a most critical period for the physical constitu
tion, a period in which the healthiness of after-life is
settled, or the seeds of disease sown for future develop
ment, so it is a critical time with our spiritual nature,
when not only the care of parents and teachers is needed,
but also the grace of God in its fullest available measure,
to guard, strengthen, and develope the Christian faculties.
Let the pastor, then, impress upon parents and God
parents, the urgent need their children stand in of the
help of God as well as of their own care and guidance ;
and let them bring before them the true reason for which
confirmation is administered : let them tell the whole
truth about the Holy Communion, that it is a means of
grace, and not only a mark of Church fellowship, and he
may hope that they will be more ready to " bring their
children to the bishop to be confirmed by him," that thus
they may (without parting with their own responsibilities,
which they cannot do) once again give those children up
into God s hands at the outset of their responsible life as
they gave them up before, when they brought them to
Christ in their baptism, according to His command.
THE MINISTRY OV THE SACRAMENTS. 179
In carrying out his duty towards the children
of his flock, the clergyman will endeavour to
use the practice of public catechizing as a very * lon fo . r con
efficient means of constant preparation for con
firmation. The title of the Catechism, " An Instruction to
be learned of every person, before he be brought to be
confirmed by the Bishop," shows the intimate connexion
between catechizing and confirmation, since the learning
of the formulary in question is the foundation of cate
chizing, and begun some years before it is perfectly known.
One chief use of catechizing is, indeed, that it is a frequent
anticipation of that ratification of the baptismal vow which
is to be made formally before the bishop. Each time the
child replies, " Yes verily ; and by God s help so I will "
keep those promises that were made in my name at my
baptism, it makes a solemn profession before the Church
of God ; and should be made to understand the force of the
expression, "by God s help so I will" the very form of
the pastor s own ordination vows. If public catechizing
is practised, the clergyman will find himself amply repaid
by the results, and those results will show themselves
prominently at the time when it becomes his duty to enter
on a more direct and immediate preparation of the children
for confirmation. I have already recommended that a
private manual should be compiled by the clergyman
himself as an aid for carrying out this important duty in
church or school, and some works are referred to in the
Jfoot-note, which will much assist him in doing so 5 .
* The two most comprehensive works on the Catechism are the Bishop of
Tasmania s (Russel-Nixon) " Lectures Historical, Doctrinal, and Practical,"
N 2
180 THE MINISTRY OF THE SACRAMENTS.
The immediate and more definite work of
Definite pre
paration for preparing candidates for confirmation, should
be directed towards three principal ends : (1)
Systematic instruction in Faith, Duty, and the subject of
Confirmation ; (2) The origination of habits of prayer
and self-examination, such as are suitable to the life of
those who are entering on the more perfect Christian
walk, and are ceasing to be mere children in religion and
responsibility ; (3) Instruction in the doctrine of the Holy
Communion, and actual preparation for the reception of
that Sacrament.
The clergyman will find his work simplified if he keeps
a register of his candidates in which to note their names,
ages, attendance, progress in the course of instruction, and
such other particulars as he may think advisable. They
should also be desired to use a special prayer, such as this :
To be said at your prayers erery Night and Morning until
the Confirmation,
Lord and Heavenly Father, enable me, I beseech
Thee, to prepare for Confirmation, by earnestly endeavour
ing to live as a faithful child of God, and to learn the
things I am required to know : that when the hands of
Thy servant the bishop are laid upon me I may receive
the full benefit of his blessing, and be made fit for a
further measure of Thy grace, through Jesus Christ our
Lord. Amen.
and Mr. Isaac Williams two volumes of Sermons. Bishop Nicholson s
Exposition is also valuable. St. Cyril of Jerusalem s Catechetical Lectures
ought to be studied by every Catechist.
THE MINISTRY OF THE SACRAMENTS. 181
It will be very advisable, also, to test the knowledge of
the candidates, and to practise them in the clear expression
of it, by means of one or two examination papers, which
should be taken home, and answered carefully in writing. I
subjoin two specimens of such papers, which have been
found to answer :
1 . Why do you wish to be confirmed ?
2. Who will confirm you ?
3. How will he do it ?
4. What benefit do you expect to get from Confirmation ?
5. Between what two holy ordinances is Confirmation a
link?
6. In what "state" does the Catechism say you were
placed by the Sacrament of Baptism ?
7. What is to make you more firm in that state ?
8. What other holy ordinance is required to give full
effect to the benefits of Confirmation ?
9. What persons are fit to be confirmed ?
10. What confirmed persons are unfit to receive the Lord s
Supper.
11. Do you intend to receive it at once, or not ?
12. Why?
"QUESTIONS
FOR THOSE WHO DESIRE TO BE CONFIRMED.
1. Why do you wish to be confirmed ?
2. What is the meaning of Confirmation ?
3. What is the use of Confirmation ?
182 THE MINISTRY OF THE SACRAMENTS.
4. Was it the custom of the Apostles to confirm those
who were baptized ?
5. What outward sign did they use ?
6. What blessing followed their use of this ordinance ?
7. Can you bring any text from the Epistles to show
that this practice is according to the Word of God ?
8. What blessing do you expect from the use of this
ordinance ?
9. Is it the real desire of your heart to renounce the
world, the flesh, and the devil, to live as a child of
God, a member of Christ, and an inheritor of the
kingdom of Heaven ought to live ?
10. What do you mean by renouncing the world ?
11. What by renouncing the flesh ?
12. What by renouncing the devil ?
13. By what power do you hope to be enabled to do this ?
14. What do you mean by believing in Christ ?
15* Do you believe in Him ?
16. What proof have you to give me that you do believe ?
17. What is the work of God the Holy Ghost in Baptism ?
18. What is the work of God the Holy Ghost in Con
firmation ?
"MY DEAR YOUNG FRIENDS,
" Anxious that you should understand the nature of
Confirmation, and reap the full blessing of it, I wish you
to consider these questions before you come to me. Some
of them you may be able to answer, and some not : after
all it will be the feeling with which you come, your state
of heart, rather than your being able to give correct
THE MINISTRY OF THE SACRAMENTS. 183
answers, which will weigh most with me : an honest answer
to the ninth question, for instance. I trust you will come
without fear, remembering that if I should even see cause
to advise any of you to wait for another opportunity
(which I trust I shall not have occasion to do), it would
merely be in my affectionate care for your souls.
" Commending you to the Lord, who is able to build you
up and give you an inheritance among them that are
sanctified, and entreating Him that a blessing from on
high may rest upon you in this matter, I am,
" Your affectionate Minister,
On the confirmation day itself the candidates should be
assembled in their own church, (if possible,) a prayer said
for God to " prevent them with His grace " in the work
of the day; and a last word spoken on the subject of
reverence and order. The clergyman and his wife should
then respectively take charge of the boys and the girls, the
lady seeing to the convenience of the latter in respect to
disposal of bonnets, and putting on caps. If they can
return in the same order, and end the day with a quiet
treat at the parsonage, before or after Evening Prayer, so
much the better, as the whole day will then come under
the eye of the clergyman, and the temptation to mere
holiday-making will be avoided.
Much has been said about the difficulty of
keeping a hold upon young people after they
have been confirmed ; and evening schools and
Bible classes have been recommended for the purpose.
184 THE MINISTRY OF THE SACRAMENTS.
These are very good in their way, and the latter are espe
cially valuable ; but they have no direct reference to
Confirmation, or what they have bears rather on the time
preceding it than on that which follows. The most firm
hold upon the confirmed is to be gained by a faithful adhe
rence to the spirit of the Church of England, which makes
Confirmation a preparation for the reception of the Holy
Communion, and supposes the latter to be received as soon
as the former has been administered. I will not enter
upon any discussion as to the age at which it is safe for
the confirmed to come to the Lord s Table, because I really
do not see how that question can be open to discussion
after Confirmation. Every person is confirmed for the
express purpose of qualifying them for admission to the
number of communicants ; and if the clergyman has not
brought most of his candidates to a fit state for such
admission, they are hardly in a fit state to swell the list of
those he takes up to the bishop. A modern bishop has
written to his clergy on this subject as follows, and his
words undoubtedly express the tone of the Prayer Book
and of the Canons which speak about Confirmation.
" Confirmation ought in all cases to be regarded as a
preparation for an immediate partaking of the Holy Com
munion, and I shall be ready to receive as candidates any
who desire at once to communicate, and whom you judge
to be sufficiently matured in the Christian life to be fit
and worthy communicants. Whilst I would not have you
make a promise of attending the Communion a condition
of receiving a ticket for Confirmation, the existence of
such an intention, formed on right grounds, is what should
THE MINISTRY OF THE SACRAMENTS. 185
chiefly guide your own decision as to the fitness of your
candidates. I wish you to present to me no others, under
the age of sixteen. Nor should you admit them then,
unless you have a good hope that they will come to Con
firmation with intelligence and sincerity of heart V
The pastor will scarcely ever recover such an oppor
tunity for preparing communicants if he loses it ; and there
is too sad a probability that those who do not begin the
habit of regular communion soon after Confirmation, will
grow up indifferent to it until a much later period of life 7 .
In this, as in all other matters concerning his ministry,
the pastor should have faith in God, and try to com
municate his own reverent trust to parents and the young
people themselves. Believing that the grace of God is
given in the ordinances provided by Him for its trans
mission, they will believe that it is more potent than
any human agency or will in settling the hearts of young
Christians in the way of holiness. Let him pray earnestly
for them that all dangers of unworthy reception may
be removed, and that the promised blessing of the sacra-
6 I may also quote Archbishop Whately. " It is of great importance . . .
that those confirmed should have the earliest possible opportunity of attend
ing at the Lord s Table, and should be earnestly pressed to avail themselves of
it at once." Parish Pastor, p. 280. Archbishop Whately considers such an
early attendance the best security against wrong ideas on the subject of the
Eucharist.
7 The alleged " thoughtlessness " of young people is much exaggerated.
Prof ane frivolity would certainly be a legitimate reason for pausing before
coming to the Lord s Table ; but short of this, I cannot see why the natural
hilarity of youth should be considered so. There is often far more of holy
innocence combined with it than with the self-possessed gravity of maturer
186 THE MINISTRY OF THE SACRAMENTS.
ment may be given to them ; and then let him endeavour
to preoccupy the ground of their hearts with the grace
of God and the love of God, that being as strong men
armed, they may keep the goods in peace which He has
bestowed upon them. Let him speak to them, and act
towards them, in the spirit of one who knew well both
his Master, and that Master s little ones: "Ye are of
God, little children, and have overcome them ; because
greater is lie that is in you, than he that is in the
world."
. The Holy Communion.
In coming to the consideration of the Holy Communion,
in its relation to the subject of the present volume, I feel
so much difficulty, on account of the controversial atmo
sphere in which the Church has been involved of late years,
that I must restrict my remarks almost to a bare state
ment of the leading features of the pastor s duty in respect
to it; trusting that the outline thus given may be sug
gestive of further thought to the reader.
The place occupied by this Sacrament in the Church
of England s pastoral system is to be deduced from the
Prayer Book and the Canons; the statements of the
Articles further defining certain points of doctrine which
do not now come under our notice.
A general review of the whole service, and
CommulLn ^ ^ rubrics belonging to it, will show that
an av&nvn- the double aspect of all ministerial acts must
ais.
be carefully remembered in the consideration
of the Sacrament from this pastoral point of view.
THE MINISTRY OF THE SACRAMENTS. 187
Thus its celebration is to be undertaken, not only as a
work that looks towards man, but also as one looking
towards God ; an Eucharist, or " sacrifice of praise and
thanksgiving," which we pray God "mercifully to ac
cept," as well as the offering of " ourselves, our souls and
bodies." It is a solemn ava juvrjatc to Him on behalf
of His people, as well as a solemn KarayyeXia of the
Lord s death by those who "eat that bread, and drink
that cup."
It is to this principle that we must trace the rule of
the Church which, enjoining that " in cathedral and col
legiate churches and colleges, where there are many
priests and deacons, they shall all receive the Communion
with the priest every Sunday at the least, except they
have a reasonable cause to the contrary," evidently con
templates a celebration of it even more frequently than
"every Sunday," in places where the diocese is repre
sented, (as in cathedrals,) or where many of those engaged
in the ministerial service of God are gathered, as in
colleges of clergy. The most solemn ministerial work
done by the Church on earth, and that in which she
draws nearest to the throne of God, is to be done thus
frequently, not only for the benefit of those who partake
of the Communion, but also that this memorial of Christ
may be frequently presented to God as the most fer
vent and solemn of all devotional acts that can be ren
dered.
And, as provision is made by the Prayer Book for the
celebration of the Holy Communion on all " Sundays and
Holy Days," if there are " four (or three at the least) to
188 THE MINISTRY OF THE SACRAMENTS.
communicate with the priest," so this principle should be
kept in view by the pastor as one which very much
concerns both himself and his flock, and should be at
least one reason for using such frequent celebrations.
When the pastor prays God in this most solemn of all
devotional services to " inspire continually the Universal
Church with the spirit of truth, unity, and concord,"
and to grant that all they that do confess His holy Name
may agree in the truth of His holy Word, and live " in
unity and godly love," it is impossible for him not to
remember especially that portion of the Universal Church
which is committed to his charge. So with his petition
for those who are " in trouble, sorrow, need, sickness, or
any other adversity," whether part of " this congregation
here present," or in their own homes. "Thy servants
departed this life in Thy faith and fear," for whom "we
also bless God s holy Name," naturally includes those
who are near and dear to the memory of both pastor and
people, quite as much as the saints of God in more distant
times and places. And we should certainly miss one
most admirable and prevailing use of the Eucharistic
service, from which these words are quoted, if we failed
to make a particular as well as a general application of
it in the spirit in which it is written, and in reference
to the pastoral work in which Christ s ministers are
engaged.
Looking at the Holy Communion also as a
of S gracc? ai me a n 8 of grace, it must be the earnest wish
of every faithful pastor that he and his flock
should gain as much benefit as possible from it to help
THE MINISTRY OF THE SACRAMENTS. 189
them forward in their Christian life. If, therefore, he is
sure of always having the requisite number of communi
cants, it is his duty to celebrate the Holy Communion
whenever he thinks it his duty to say the first part of the
service ; and he will consider this part of the service as, in
fact, marred of its most important feature if it is not made
part of an actual celebration 8 .
It is quite unnecessary for me to say any thing of the
pastor s duty in urging his people to become communi
cants, and to communicate frequently, as this is the object
which every earnest clergyman sets before himself in the
training of souls for a closer walk with God. Not so very
long ago one might hear clergymen argue that frequent
communion was not contemplated by the Church of Eng
land, urging the law that every parishioner is required
to communicate three times a year only, and restricting
themselves to celebrations at Christmas, Easter, and
Whitsuntide, in practical agreement with this theory.
Such a dry and legal view of this holy Sacrament is
rapidly becoming extinguished, and few clergymen are
now satisfied with a less frequent celebration than every
month, as few consider that the objects of communicating
8 The principle thus stated is now very commonly allowed, and adopted.
Many years ago it was revived by Mr. Howels at Long Acre Chapel, where
there was a weekly celebration of the Holy Communion until his death.
I am not aware when, or on what principle, the monthly communion was
substituted for the weekly one in our parish churches. Perhaps it ori
ginated in the decline of practical religion after the Great Rebellion. If
weekly communion had not unfortunately, and untruly, been supposed to
be a " party -badge," (it is sad to be obliged to write the word on such
a subject,) it would have been much more generally revived than it has
been.
190 THE MINISTRY OF THE SACRAMENTS.
are fully attained by their parishioners if they present
themselves at the Lord s Table only on the great festivals.
But, in reality, it has always remained on the face of the
Prayer Book, that " the curates shall diligently from time
to time (but especially in the time of pestilence, or other
infectious sickness) exhort their parishioners to the often
receiving of the Holy Communion of the body and blood
of our Saviour Christ 9 ;" and the spirit of this injunction
is conspicuous in every part of the devotional provision
made by the Church for the celebration of the Holy
Communion. Such also will be the spirit of all, pastor
and people alike, who look to the grace of God as the real
foundation of holy living ; and who depend upon that
grace for the continued maintenance of their spirituality,
and not on occasional excitement of their feelings 1 .
No doubt the increase of practical religion among us
of late years is very much owing to a more true appre
ciation of, and reverence for, the Holy Communion. It is
no longer degraded by being made a political test, and
ever since that degradation passed away it has been
gradually becoming more commonly used as a means of
grace. Such a continuous increase in the number of com
municants in any single parish may be taken as a safe
index to the reality of the work which is being done by
9 Rubric to " Communion of the Sick."
1 An excellent book for giving away among the half-instructed portion of
the people is, "The Holy Communion, its Nature and Benefits, with a
Notice of some common Objections to receiving it, &c.," by the Rev.
W. II. Ridley, Rector of Hambleden. It, is published by Mozley, and by
Hamilton, Adams, and Co., and contains 120 pages of valuable explanatory
and devotional matter for the cost of a few pence.
THE MINISTRY OF THE SACTCAMENTS. 191
the pastor of it ; and he will be constantly working to
wards this end, as the truest way in which he can draw
his people towards the Good Shepherd, and feed them
with " the bread of life which cometh down from heaven."
The number of communicants is, however, far short of
what it ought to be ; and I feel convinced that two prin
cipal reasons are reserve and want of knowledge. In
special cases an excellent preparation for the Holy Com
munion would be made by previous presence on several
occasions, without communicating, before coming to a final
decision. But the number of faithful communicants would
be largely increased if more instruction was given in the
way of definite and individual preparation as well as in
sermons. Such instruction is needed by three classes of
persons ; (1) Those who are coming to their first Com
munion ; (2) Those who have communicated before, but
have long ceased to do so ; and (3) those who are in doubt
or fear through supposed unfitness or real hindrances.
Instruction of this sort requires much tact and discretion ;
but if well managed, it is attended with the happiest
results.
CHAPTER VI.
THE VISITATION OF THE SICK.
THERE are some points in which the practice of the clergy
of the Church of England falls far short of the standard
set up in the Canons and the Book of Common Prayer ;
but in pastoral visitation, and especially in the visitation
of the sick, their practice has exceeded that standard.
There are two reasons for this. One is, that the circum
stances of our population, and the rapid growth of it
without a commensurate increase in the number of clergy,
has drawn out a higher development of the missionary
spirit than was ever known in the Church of England
before ; the other, that the political necessities of the
Reformation times, which necessitated great restrictions
upon the clergy in their private ministrations, are en
tirely unknown in modern days, clergymen being univer
sally supporters of order and the existing government
of the land.
The definite law of the Church on the sub-
The Law. .
ject of Visiting the Sick is to be found in
the Sixty-seventh Canon : " When any person is danger
ously sick in any parish, the minister or curate, having
THE VISITATION OF THE SICK. 193
knowledge thereof, shall resort unto him or her, (if the
disease be not known, or probably suspected to be in
fectious,) to instruct and comfort them in their distress,
according to the order of the Communion Book, if he
be no preacher ; or if he be a preacher, then as he shall
think most needful and convenient." There is also an
office for the Visitation of the Sick, and the Communion
of the Sick, the former being mainly a translation of the
Ordo ad Visitandum Infirmum, and the De Extrema
Unctione of the pre-Ileformation Church ! ; and it seems
intended to comprehend the pastor s duty to the sick or
dying members of his flock wholly within the bounds of
this office.
Our modern interpretation of the obligations
belonging to the parochial clergyman takes a
much wider range, and is founded rather on
the general principle of the Ordination vow " to be ready
with faithful diligence to use private monitions and ex
hortations to the sick as need shall require and occasion
be given," than on the Canon and Office referred to. For
there are a multitude of aged, infirm, and invalid persons
towards whom need requires and occasion is given for
using such monitions and exhortations, for whom no direct
provision is made either by the law or the devotional
services of the Church. And, whether or not it be as I
suppose, that the practice of the modern Church of England
has expanded in the direction of these persons far beyond
the sixteenth and seventeenth century theories, it is cer<-
1 The ceremony of unction was inserted in the 1549 Prayer Book, and
omitted from all subsequent revisions of it.
194 THE VISITATION OF THE SICK.
tain that a pastor of the present day finds himself by the
almost universal consent of clergy and laity bound to carry
his ministrations into their houses ; and that although he
is generally authorized to use such visitation by his ordi
nation vows, and by the committal to him of the cure
of souls, he is thrown very much on his own resources
as to the detailed manner in which it is to be carried
out.
It is a most important and a most difficult work, and it
is not to be wondered at that many books have been
written for the purpose of facilitating its proper accom
plishment. But it is a work, after all, which can only
be done well by the clergyman who has so used books,
that like the learned and skilful physician of the body
he can rise above them in his ordinary practice I shall
not, therefore, attempt to add this chapter to the number
of manuals which have been published on the subject,
but shall endeavour to condense into as small a compass
as possible the general principles on which a pastor will
find it expedient to build in carrying out this duty.
There are, in practice, very few who act
U P to the letter of tne Canon and Rubric, by
giving notice of their sickness to the minister
of the parish. Yet, in practice, a diligent pastor is almost
sure to hear of as many sick persons as he can well attend
to. lie should, however, make it thoroughly understood
by his parishioners that he wishes them to acquaint him
with all cases of sickness that mav seem to be of a serious
THE VISITATION OF THE SICK. 195
kind, and especially when the persons are Church people.
In the Ordination statement of the duties of the diaconal
office, one of them is said to be that of searching for the
sick people of the parish, that their names may be given
to the curate ; and this duty may fairly be carried out by
some of the laity whose avocations carry them into house
holds, and who may thus co-operate in the practical work
of the Church. It does not fail to become known if a
pastor is a ready man at visiting his parishioners ; and
willingness to go on his part will be met by willingness to
acquaint him with cases needing his care, and to receive
his visits, on the part of his flock.
His visiting list will comprehend three principal classes
of persons. First, the infirm and aged, who are unable
to go to church. Secondly, those under some temporary
sickness, either of a short duration or of a character that
entails retirement from the active work of life for some
weeks or months, as in the case of broken limbs. Thirdly,
those whose illness is of such a kind as to preclude ex
pectations of recovery, as in the case of a sudden mortal
sickness, or a long and lingering decline.
. Aged, infirm, and invalid persons.
There will be a number of persons of this description
in every parish, who are either entirely confined to the
house, or so much so as to be unable to attend Divine
service. Among them a few will be found who have
been accustomed to value the means of grace, to go to
church regularly, and to receive the Holy Communion;
a few others, who have been as regular at the meeting-
196 THE VISITATION OF THE SICK.
house, but (as is almost invariably the case) look to the
clergyman for the " consolations of religion," when they
are laid by; and others, again, who never had much
thought about personal religion until the passing away
of health and strength and the advance of old age re
minded them of death, and of a world beyond the grave.
It is obvious that a stereotyped system of treatment would
put some of these into a false relation with the pastor
as the guide of their souls ; and it will be necessary for
him so to distinguish between them and between the
various modes which he uses in dealing with them, that
he may be as a " wise householder, giving to each their
portion of meat in due season." Ilis object towards the
first-named class will be to supply at home, as far as he
can, that which they cannot, as formerly, come to church
to receive there. The second class he will endeavour
to lead upward to a higher religious life than they have
been accustomed to formerly. With the third he will
have the difficult and almost hopeless task to try, of
breaking up, and turning into good soil, the ground
which has been indurated by the sin of early life, the
unrepenting forgetfulness of mature years, and the self-
satisfied indifference of old age.
To the first and most hopeful class, it is a
people* 1 great comfort to hear the familiar words of the
Church services, which come upon their ears
with a happy ring of accustomed devotion that one tires
of as little as of the face of a dear and life-long friend.
It will, therefore, be well for the clergyman to adopt
these, as far as he properly can, in his prayers with such
THE VISITATION OF THE SICK. 197
persons, using the collects freely, and especially (ac
cording to the time of his visit) the collect of the day,
with the second and third at morning and evening prayer.
It is also desirable to fall into a habit of using portions of
the services as a definite office, in something like the
following order :
The Confession.
" God, whose nature and property."
The Lord s Prayer.
The Versicles.
One or more Psalms of the day.
The Gospel of the week, or one of the Lessons of the day.
The Creed.
The Lesser Litany.
The Suffrages.
1st, 2nd, and 3rd Collects.
A Benediction.
In such an office, both the constancy and the variety of
the Church s prayers will be fairly represented ; and there
are none of them included which there need be any scruple
about using in a private house. At the same time, the
position of Holy Scripture, Psalm, Lesson, or both, may be
made the subject of an exposition which will be to the
infirm person s home what the sermon is to the Church
with its public service. The clergyman may be able to
visit each of such regular Church people once a week,
there will not be many of them, but whether he can
do so thus frequently or not, it should be understood that
he comes for the purpose of using such an office as that
198 THE VISITATION OF THE SICK.
indicated, which will be quite as suitable for the educated
as for the uneducated among his infirm parishioners 2 .
Where he has any lay assistants in the parish, he should
direct them to follow in the same course ; putting into
their hands some good books, in which Holy Scripture
is well and devotionally explained, such as Mr. Young s
" Daily Headings for a Year on the Life of our Lord
and Saviour;" Mr. Isaac Williams s books on the Life,
Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension of our Lord; and
others of a similar kind. But, as a general rule, prayers
should not be offered by lay assistants ; or, at least, they
should usually be restricted to the collect, " Blessed Lord,
who hast caused all Holy Scriptures," before reading;
and after, the Lord s Prayer and the third collect at the
end of the Communion Service, " Grant, we beseech
Thee." To many the " Christian Year," and good hymns
will be very acceptable, and these also may well be used
by lay assistants, men or women. At certain intervals
the Holy Communion should be administered to such
persons as I am speaking of; and they will often have
a desire to receive it on some special day, their birth-day,
the anniversary of a death, or some other such domestic
memorial day, as well as at the seasons of Christmas,
Easter, and Whitsuntide. I do not think it should be
administered very often in private houses ; but infirm
persons ought to be instructed and trained in a habit of
observing the time of its celebration in church, and
2 Lonely old people among the infirm poor arc much comforted by ;ni
evening visit, in which they may be helped with their evening pniyers.
THE VISITATION OF THE SICK. 199
associating themselves with it then by solemn retirement
and prayer.
Such a Church tone of private ministrations
, , , i . i .11 i Dissenters.
as has been here described, will not be appre
ciated by old people who have been Dissenters all their
working lives; or, at least, not until they have been
gradually brought to it little by little. It will be better,
therefore, in ministering to them, to use extempore
prayers and addresses freely ; in the latter giving at
tention to such elementary instruction in Christian truth
as is too often necessary with Dissenters, and in the
former endeavouring to draw them, on to a habit of
saying the Lord s Prayer and the Amens in a responsive
way, so as to do away with the mischievous notion of
listening to the prayers only, and introduce that of joining
in them.
With the third class the visits of the clergy-
? Indifferent.
man will be chiefly for the purpose of leading
them to repentance; and care should be used, while
every thing is done with love and tenderness, not to let
the tone of exhortation or prayer give an impenitent
person the impression that he or she is in a better spiritual
condition than that in which the pastor honestly believes
or knows them to be.
. Temporary Sickness.
The peculiar nature of the relation between pastor and
people requires him to exaggerate, if one may so say,
some of the offices of ordinary friendship. Thus he will
often find it well to make kindly calls upon his parish-
200 THE VISITATION OF THE SICK.
ioners at a time of temporary indisposition, although
no direct occasion exists for the exercise of his pastoral
office. Among the middle classes, especially, this kind
of attention is much appreciated ; and as it draws closer
the bonds of attachment between them and himself, it
cannot be looked upon as time wasted. A clergyman
is, in fact, required for the sake of his work to do many
things personally which as a layman he would do, if
at all, by the agency of a servant or messenger ; and he
thus gains, probably, a better acquaintance with an inac
cessible portion of his parishioners, and lays the founda
tion for more definite and profitable pastoral intercourse.
But there is a class of temporary sick-
Uses to be nesses, such as accidents, which offer oppor-
niiiue or
times of t unities for more direct work. Men who are
temporary 1111- i
sickness. engrossed by the business or other pursuits
of life at ordinary times are, under such cir
cumstances, compelled to retirement ; and there is just
enough of weakness, and perhaps of pain, to suggest to
their minds quiet thoughts of the mortality of one part
of their nature, and the immortality of the other ; and
to make them open to religious impressions for which
the intense bustle of life at other times leaves no room.
Much advantage may be taken of such opportunities
by a clergyman who watches for them, and uses them
with tact. They may be made a means of weaning the
invalid man from bad habits, so as to give him a dis
taste for them when they are again within his power ;
for checking the covetousness which is so commonly
the result of busy commercial life ; for arousing the con-
THE VISITATION OF THE SICK. 201
sciousness of an inner kingdom of God in those who
see nothing but the mere human side of life. If the
invalid is an intellectual man, his conscience may be
indirectly reached through conversation or books, which
will set him thinking out religious subjects for himself,
when any direct attack on it might be repelled with
indignation. In these days, when theological books
of a certain class are fashionable and form the subject
of conversation in society, it may even be possible to
persuade such a man to look into current topics of con
troversy for himself more thoroughly than men of much
occupation ever do ; and to work out truth from original
sources, instead of taking " doubts " without question
at the hand of others. Or, again, among all classes
such temporary retirement from active occupations may
be urged as an opportunity for more constant attend
ance at church, if possible ; and be made a means of
drawing the person on to a better knowledge of the place
which our Christian life holds in relation to our world-life.
Many, also, who have been accustomed to
the regular use of religious privileges, will be ^^
glad, if in such temporary retirement they are tirement
obliged to be absent from church, to have
their clergyman with them for such a definite purpose
as in the visits I have already spoken of to the per
manently infirm. A few will be found who will desire to
make a temporary sickness which thus compels them to
retire for a time from the business of life, an occasion of
extra devotion and Scripture study ; a kind of religious
" retreat " in which they may strengthen their spiritual
" se
202 THE VISITATION OF THE SICK.
energies, and take fresh breath, as it were, for their
renewal of the Christian warfare. This being the highest
use which can be made of such occasions may be taken as
the ultimate point to which the clergyman s endeavours
should tend in his private monitions and exhortations to
those whose sickness is evidently not unto death.
. Mortal Sickness.
The majority of cases in which the ministrations of the
pastor are actually sought for, will be those in which,
from the verdict of the medical man, or the impressions of
relatives, or the conviction of the patient himself, recovery
appears to be beyond reasonable expectation ; cases either
(1) of some rapid disease which brings death within the
prospect of a few days or a few hours, or (2) long and
gradual processes of slow decay, as by the weeks and months
of consumption. There is no royal road by which to
bring about a sound death-bed repentance ; and therefore,
although a more prompt and decisive action is required on
the part of the pastor where the time is short than where
it is long, he must necessarily take the same general line
in dealing with mortal illness under either phase ; and
I will endeavour to sketch out this with general reference
to the slow or the rapid mortality which may attend the
cases of the several classes of persons who are likely to
require his assistance.
1. First come those who have religious con-
ofTeliVriou Dictions and principles, and whose habits of life
Church have been in subordination to them. Of these,
sonic will be regular Church people, others
THE VISITATION OF THE SICK. 203
either wholly, or in part, Dissenters. In either case, the
object in view is preparation for death : and in either
there are required two principal things, a careful review of
the dying person s standing-point with relation to his past
life ; and a drawing closer of the union between Christ
and the soul preparing for its departure.
With well-instructed, habitual Church people.
.,, . . Use of the
it will be best to proceed as soon as possible, Visitation
after one or more preliminary visits to the use
of the Office for the Visitation of the Sick; making it
plainly refer on the one hand to repentance for the past,
on the other, to preparation for the future. This office
need not necessarily be gone through completely at one
visit. Perhaps it may be desirable to go no further than
the Creed in the first instance, allowing some interval of
time to elapse, which the sick person may employ in
definite recollectedness with respect to the past ; and this,
whether the absolution is desired by him, or whether the
analogous collect which follows it in the office is to begin
it on the subsequent occasion. Strict examination of con
science is undoubtedly desirable in preparing for death,
and one chief use of the pastor s visit to dying chambers
will be to assist the sick and dying in this examination,
and to take care that no soothing self-deceptions be prac
tised which shall hinder the real approach of the soul to
God. At such a time the " special confession of his sins "
to which the sick person is to be " moved " by the minister
will prove infinitely valuable ; and, in some form or other,
is as certain to be resorted to by every sincere penitent, as
it is to be suggested and encouraged by every one, lay
204 THE VISITATION OF THE SICK.
person or minister, who endeavours to guide the soul
onward to a peaceful sense of pardon and rest 3 .
When the Visitation Service has been once
completely used it should not be repeated ; but
it should be followed up by the Communion for
the Sick, administered with special reference to God s
gracious forgiveness of sins to the sick person, and to His
support in death. Subsequent visits, up to the immediate
approach of death (when the special prayer for the depart
ing ought to be offered), may be of the same character
with those previously spoken of when treating of the infirm ;
special circumstances being noticed, and taken account of
in the selection of Scriptures, exposition, and prayer. It
need hardly be said that the Psalms, and perhaps the
daily lessons will be like daily food to a dying Churchman ;
and if he cannot read them himself, they should be
regularly read to him by some of his family or by Chris
tian friends.
2. In dealing with religious Dissenters under
Death-beds
of religious similar circumstances, while the objects to be
attained are the same, the mode of reaching
them must be modified. A wilful schismatic should cer
tainly not be considered entitled to the privileges which
he has wantonly slighted until his schism has been made
the subject of repentance ; and he has been, so far as he
can be, reconciled to the Church. But there is more of
habit than wilfulness about most religious Dissenters ; and
the chief difficulty of the clergyman will be to bring them
out of a religious system in which self is made the centre,
3 See Chap. VI II. fur further remarks on this subject.
THE VISITATION OF THE SICK. 205
into one in which Christ is so. There are but few instances
of this kind in which the Visitation Office can be used
with advantage, or in the spirit in which it is framed ;
and, as in all pastoral dealings with Dissenters, I should
recommend a free use of extemporaneous prayer and expo
sition ; basing it, indeed, as far as may be, on the prin
ciples of the office.
3. At the opposite pole to the first class Deathbeds
mentioned are those who have lived regardless of irreligious
of religion, but seek the aid of the clergyman,
or have it sought on their behalf, through fear of death.
To bring about the conversion of such persons on a dying
bed, whether the time of illness be long or short, i. e. to
give them convictions of sin, and to reconcile them to God,
is the clergyman s hardest task ; but it is not always an
impossible one 4 . If they are of an indolent, unimpressive
nature, having no aspirations after heaven, and yet ex
pecting somehow or other to escape hell, they are indeed
difficult to arouse. If they are of that self-righteous class
who think it meritorious to " feel quite comfortable "
because they have no consciousness of ever having done
wrong or been " worse than their neighbours," it is very
hard indeed to break down their self-complacency, and
* One cannot but feel how prompt and definite a course is necessary for
the clergyman who has to minister to persons called out of the world at a
very short notice; as for example, the dying on a field of battle, or the
many cases of fatal accident from machinery and other causes, which leave
an interval of an hour or two of consciousness, but no time for any detailed
repentance. One seems to want, in such cases, to pass over all else, and
hold up the cross of the dying Saviour to the eyes of the dying sinner as his
only hope, but a hope that he may rest on, as did the dying thief at Calvary.
There can be little danger, then, of encouraging self-righteousness.
206 THE VISITATION OF THE SICK.
show them the naked truth about their hearts and lives.
Yet it is absolutely necessary that these, and all who have
been living in alienation from God, should be brought to a
conviction of sin, if they are to be reconciled to Him before
they die. It is of no use to go on good-naturedly hoping
for the best about them, if the duty of a faithful pastor
is to be done towards them. He must labour earnestly to
set before them the magnitude and hatefulness of the sin
which could only be cured by the death of the holy Jesus ;
and further, to convince them that their own sins of act
and will are of that hateful nature in the sight of God,
that they can never have His love until those sins are so
repented of that the sinner himself ceases to place a bar in
the way of forgiveness or the pouring out of God s love in
Christ. In thus labouring, let the pastor be real, truthful,
and honest. If the sinner goes into the presence of his
Judge after all with a deceived heart, let it be the pastor s
part to say, " I am clear of the blood of all men." Let
him, therefore, do all that lies in his power, first with
extreme gentleness, then, if necessary, with a gradually
increasing severity, to lay before the dying sinner the
awfulness of carrying sins unforgiven before God. Let
him also try to find out the particular character of the
sins of which the dying person has been guilty, that the
ground of attack may be narrowed, and close application
used instead of vague generalities. Otherwise he may all
the while be aiming wide of the mark, and leave the con
science unstricken to the last.
All this requires tact, knowledge of character, patience ;
and even more than these it requires a love for Christ s
THE VISITATION OF THE SICK. 207
lost sheep, and an earnest desire to restore them to Him.
It is in vain, moreover, to expect success in the conversion
of sinners, even when the terrors of death are upon them,
without personal holiness, faith in Christ s assisting hand,
and constant prayer for His guidance. To impress others
with a conviction of sin we ourselves must feel sin s sin-
fulness. To lead others to the cross of Christ we ourselves
must have learned the way thither. To exhibit in the
eyes of the dying the love of the Good Shepherd who
longs to carry them home on His shoulders rejoicing, we
as His pastors must show something of that love shed
abroad in our hearts, and constraining us in the work of
our ministrations.
"When a person of the class w T e have been contemplating
is really brought to a conviction of sin, it is probable that
much honest confession of sin will have been made while
that conviction has been growing ; and he is thus brought
within the range of the principles on which the Visitation
Office is founded, whether or not the particular case may
be such as to make its use advisable. It will require much
discrimination to carry out the spirit of the injunction
which bids the pastor exhort the sinner "where he hath
done injury or wrong to any man, that he make amends
to the uttermost of his power," and more especially in
commercial communities where such injuries take multi
tudinous forms, and actual amends are often utterly im
possible. Yet it is clear that a solid repentance must often
require the accompaniment of an honest intention or wish
to make amends for wrongs done, and this is a particular
which must not be overlooked. This step having been
208 THE VISITATION OF THE SICK.
reached and passed, no prayer can then be more suitable
for the purpose of marking the act of repentance, and of
offering it to God, than the collect, "0 most merciful
God," which follows the absolution in the Visitation
Office. After which it will be the object of the pastor to
maintain the awakened spirit of the penitent in its now
healthy state as the body decays day by day, and to lead
him on by the same path in which he would lead those
whose condition from the beginning of his attendance
upon them had been that of sinners reconciled to their
God.
No doubt it causes clergymen much sadness to look
back on many labours of the kind I have been sketching,
and to reflect how much of them have been labour in vain.
Not a few of those he has attended have recovered their
bodily health, and in proportion have lost the spiritual
health which they seemed so surely to have gained. When
they thought they were dying they exhibited what appeared
to be true penitence, and a hearty desire for living closely
with God : when they recovered, all their old life began
again, and their repentance proved but an episode in their
course of sin.
Yet there may be more good done than the clergyman
knows of. It is not in vain that the Scripture has said,
" Cast thy bread upon the waters : for thou shall find it
after many days." The pastor should not lose sight of
such persons, but endeavour over and over again to revive
in them the recollection of those days when they " did run
THE VISITATION OF THE SICK. 209
well." He should remind them with a loving and gentle
but yet solemn warning, of what they resolved on when
they thought themselves about to die, and of what they
are doing now the time has come for them to put their
resolutions in practice.
Nor let the clergyman be discouraged by this frequent
kind of relapse into the thought that if his labour was
in vain for those who have survived it was also in vain
for those who have died. Such sick-bed or death-bed
repentance may be too weak to bear the rough usage of
temptation, as many have felt, and prayed in that feeling
for the mercy of a removal from the evil to come, but it
may have been sincere while it lasted. And if the sick
person was removed by death while in this penitent state
of mind, the pastor may hope that the Good Shepherd has
crowned His work and said to His friends and His neigh
bours, the saints and angels of heaven, " Rejoice with Me,
for I have found My sheep which was lost."
. Some general rules about Visiting.
1. It is of importance that the pastor should visit sick
people as a clergyman, with the understanding that he
and they are placed in a position of responsibility towards
each other. " I shall be glad to see any Christian friend "
is a not uncommon response, if he attempts to draw out
the feeling of sick persons among the middle classes re
specting his visits. But it must be made clear to them
that he comes, not as an ordinary Christian friend (though
that in its highest sense), but as the pastor of the flock,
and the authorized messenger of God to their souls. The
p
210 THE VISITATION OF THE SICK.
old Scriptural habit, enjoined in the Visitation Office, of
saying, " Peace be to this house," is much calculated to
promote such an understanding of the pastoral character
of his visits, but it cannot be promiscuously used with
advantage. Manner and tone will go far.
2. The best time, (according to the habits of the family,
or of the locality,) should be chosen for visiting the sick ;
that every advantage may be gained. Very early in the
day is almost always a time of bustle in a sick chamber,
eleven o clock being generally the earliest time at which
even the Holy Communion can be suitably and quietly
administered. Sometimes, too, attention must be paid to
the varying conditions of the sick person at different times
of the day, as they would be able to give little thought to
pastoral exhortation in the midst of severe pain at one
hour, when at another they might be usually asleep ; and
at a third in a state of rest in mind and body which would
be most suitable for the clergyman s visit. An inquiry or
two put to the attendants or friends will soon furnish him
with the necessary information. It is very desirable that
the visit should be at times when the room will be free
from crowding, as sick rooms sometimes are crowded witli
six or seven sympathizing friends or relatives; and at
least once, a private interview should be insisted on to give
opportunity for the sick person to communicate spiritual
difficulties, or for an examination of conscience to be made ;
such as could hardly be done in the presence of others.
Whenever, indeed, friends are present, judgment should
be exercised as to the continuance of the visit, or its
postponement to another day. Sometimes they are known
THE VISITATION OF THE SICK. 211
to be restless, impatient, controversial, or otherwise in the
way ; and yet it may not be easy to request their absence.
Others, again, are anxious to remain, listen, and join in
prayer, with a real desire to do so as Christian friends who
are seeking the same end as the pastor himself.
3. On the first visit, and perhaps often afterwards,
some little time must be occupied in making acquaintance
with the sick person s spiritual condition, and acquiring
a kind of pastoral diagnosis of the case. Much depends
on this, for, of course, the clergyman must endeavour to
adapt his ministrations to each variety of case with care
ful watchfulness. When this diagnosis has been formed,
the ordinary method of conducting a visit will be by (a)
reading a Psalm, or other portion of Holy Scripture,
chosen, not at random, but with special application, at
least, to God s dealing with men in afilicting, correcting,
pardoning, and comforting them. But the judicious use
of Holy Scripture will often enable the pastor to make
way with the conscience ; and he should set before him
self as an important point, the acquisition of a tact in
choosing such portions of the Word of God as may thus
minister almost as if God Himself were speaking to the
conscience. (/3) A few words of comment or exhortation
should follow the reading of Scripture ; and suggestions
about self-examination, penitence, &c., may be made to
come naturally out of such a comment, if the Psalm or
chapter has been well chosen for the object in view. A
catechetical tone may also be sometimes adopted with
advantage, to draw out a person s belief, or to give point
and particularity to the suggestions made, (-y) Prayer
p 2
212 THE VISITATION OF THE SICK.
will come next and last ; and it should be made according
to some plan definitely formed in the mind of the pastor,
with regard to the circumstances of the case he is at the
time dealing with. A responsive office will often be found
advisable for habitual Church people who are used to that
mode of prayer; and if special circumstances require to
be named, an extemporaneous prayer may be introduced
into it accordingly. There are many admirable collects
for various occasions of life and states of mind in the old
Sacramentaries, from which most of our Prayer Book
collects are derived; and translations of these might be
kept in hand by the clergyman for use in sick rooms and
elsewhere.
4. There are many occasions, however, when the pastor
will do well to pray without any written or printed form.
In cases where prayer from a book would shake the con
fidence of " those that are weak " in your ministrations,
it is far better to put the book aside. Such persons are
disposed to think more highly of a clergyman s minis
trations than of a preacher s, but if the preacher prays
extempore in suitable language, and the clergyman from
a book, in, perhaps, the Latinized idiom of Caroline
divines, or Johnsonian days of English, the comparison
is inevitably to the disadvantage of the latter. Again,
when prayers are offered for individual persons they ought
to be pointed, both in reference to that person s par
ticular necessities, and also to the tone which you wish
to infuse into their minds (not to call prayer instructive)
with regard to their own prayers arid meditations. But
a clergyman who chains himself to books of prayer, runs
THE VISITATION OF THE SICK. 213
into great danger of resting in formal generalities which
are contrary to the spirit and intention of private minis
trations. Such generalities are of the essence of Common
Prayer, but with a sick person the clergyman should pray
as he would for himself were he in the same condition ;
and his prayers as well as his exhortations and admoni
tions should deal with particulars and specialities as much
as possible, only taking pains not to do so in a manner
that may prove offensive.
. A Visiting Manual.
There is no manual extant which fulfils the conditions
necessary for the judicious and convenient Visitation of
the Sick. To carry out the system I have indicated, I
recommend the clergyman to purchase a Bible and Prayer
Book of rather small size, but rather large print, in sheets,
and have portions of them bound together into the follow
ing Manual. The size should be such as may be carried
in the pocket, if necessary; the print such as may be
easily read in a darkish room.
1. The Prayer Book.
2. The Book of Job.
3. The Book of Isaiah.
4. The New Testament.
5. Fifty or sixty pages of blank paper.
6. A back cord or tape for a few loose leaves on which
to make memoranda.
The volume thus compiled will be just half the thickness
of a Bible of the same type ; and, bound in limp covers, is
sufficiently portable. On some of the blank pages may be
214 THE VISITATION OF THE SICK.
noted down lists of Psalms and Scriptures suitable for
various cases. On other pages short and concise notes,
similar to sermon notes, for exhortation, exposition, and
prayer. On others, again, prayers may be written out,
which have been taken from such sources as I have
previously recommended.
. Private Communion.
Much discretion should be used in the administration
of Private Communion. There is a tendency among ill-
instructed persons to look upon it as a kind of charm for
the sick and the dying ; and many receive it, or are ready
to receive it, in their sick rooms, who never did receive
it in church, and will do so rarely, if at all, on their
recovery.
The rule of the Church of England is sufficiently de
finite to be a sure guide to the pastor. The Seventy-first
Canon enjoins that, "No minister shall . . . administer
the Holy Communion in any private house, except it be
in times of necessity, when any being either so impotent
as he cannot go to the church, or very dangerously sick, arc
desirous to be partakers of the holy Sacrament." The
Rubric before the Office for the Communion of the Sick,
after directing curates to exhort their flocks diligently
to the often receiving of the " Holy Communion of the
Body and Blood of our Saviour Christ," in their parish
churches, adds that, " If the sick person be not able to
come to the church, and yet is desirous to receive the
Communion in his house, then he must," &c.
This rule evidently does not apply to trivial sicknesses,
THE VISITATION OF THE SICK. 215
nor to those which prevent a person for a short time only
from receiving in church. Before, then, a clergyman
administers the Holy Communion in private he should
have some of these reasons for doing so.
1. That the person to whom he proposes to administer
it, is either so infirm as to be incapacitated from
attending church.
2. Or dangerously sick.
3. And, in either case, really desirous of receiving
it, and not assenting out of civility to the clergy
man.
It is a matter for serious consideration, whether or not
he administers it to a person for the first time in private
who has habitually neglected the public opportunities
of receiving it ; and there are some valuable cautions con
tained in the following ancient metrical canon.
" Duni vomet infirmus, non debet sumere corpus
Christ! : nisi credit, credendo fideliter egit.
Ebrius, insanus, erroneus, ct male credens,
Et pueri, corpus Christi non suscipiant hi,
Non nisi mense semel, aliquis communicet seger 4 ."
In all cases of Private Communion regard should be paid
to proper reverence in respect to "externals;" in the
spirit of the rubric, which enjoins a "convenient place"
to be prepared " in the sick man s house, with all things
necessary so prepared, that the Curate may reverently
minister." The surplice should certainly be used on
such occasions. Indeed, the office is framed in so exact
an analogy with that for the celebration of Holy Coin-
* Monuments Eitualia, i. 90.
216
THE VISITATION OF THE SICK.
munion in public, that it is very singular the habit of
administering it privately in a common walking dress
only should ever have grown up among the clergy. It
certainly cannot be accounted an over-strictness, in regard
to externals, to reckon the seemly vesture prescribed for
the purpose among the " all things necessary " for re
verent celebration, directed by the rubric.
The vessels used for Private Communion are also worth
consideration. The toy-like " pocket communion ser
vices," which are so often used, are surely beneath the
dignity of so solemn an ordinance. They seem to have
been contrived on the supposition, that the essential thing
in their construction was to make them so small that they
could really be carried in the pocket ; though why they
-3 incfiet
THE VISITATION OF THE SICK.
217
should go there at all I cannot understand. For many
years I have used a chalice and paten of a size inter
mediate between those used in church and these " pocket "
inventions ; and it has proved so suitable for the purpose,
that I give a drawing of it, reduced to exactly half the
size of the original, which will show both form and size
sufficiently for a workman to go upon. Mine were made
for me in beaten brass, (I had a curacy of 50/. a year
at the time,) from paper models of my own construction,
by an ordinary brazier at Plymouth ; and a friend covered
the bowl of the chalice with silver, as well as the in
terior of the paten, by means of electrotype apparatus.
The cost of them, so made, was thirty shillings. I was
told that they could be made in silver for 5L
I
/:
There is nothing mean or toy-like in the appearance
of these ; and the form of the chalice bowl is specially
adapted for administering its contents easily to persons in
218
THE VISITATION OF THE SICK.
a recumbent posture. The most convenient way of carry
ing the "things necessary for the Curate reverently to
minister" in private, is a small black leather bag, the
lower part of which is made around a thin wooden case
having divisions, thus :
In the upper part of the bag should be carried small
linen cloths for placing on the table, and for covering
the elements; and a plain surplice made without the
ordinary thick folds at the shoulders, so as to pack into
a small compass. With these should also be taken three
or four large print Society for Promoting Christian
Knowledge copies of the Communion Service, for hand
ing to the communicants at the time of celebration.
I have been thus particular in setting down these
things, because clergymen often use what they can get
at any ordinary silversmith s, only because they do not
know where or how to get better vessels made ; and yet,
THE VISITATION OF THE SICK. 219
perhaps, every time they use them, they feel that there
is a most unnecessary disproportion between the dignity
of the sacrament, and that of the vessels used in its
administration; and that the latter are made of an in
convenient form, solely for the sake of getting them small
enough to carry in the pocket 5 . It would be a good
thing if others were to follow the example of good Bishop
Coleridge. When he gave up the Incumbency of Cowley,
near Oxford, he provided a set of vessels for use at Private
Communion, to be handed down in perpetuity to his
successors. f
. Visiting cases of infectious disease.
Some words of caution are necessary with regard to
the duty of the clergyman in his visitation of sick persons
suffering from infectious disorders. Archbishop Whately,
in his "Parish Pastor," says, "A conscientious priest of
the Church of Rome, who sincerely believes that con
fession, and absolution, and extreme unction, are highly
important to the salvation of a soul, will feel himself
called on to encounter greater risks from infectious disease
than it would be needful, or even allowable, for a Pro
testant minister to expose himself to 6 ." It would be
unjust to the Archbishop s memory to suppose that he
would have advised clergymen to sacrifice duty to safety
without good cause ; so that we must take these words as
5 I have known a clergyman to be in the habit of celebrating the Com
munion of the Sick, with no other vessel than a wine-glass and an earthen
ware plate.
6 Parish Pastor, p. 39, note.
220 THE VISITATION OF THE SICK.
indicating the opinion that some rule of self-restraint and
prudence is advisable, however repugnant it may be to
us on first thought.
Such cases are certainly not to be courted, as if there
was a special merit in attending where there is danger,
even though the necessity for attendance is not by itself
such as to justify the clergyman in going. If a child is
to be baptized who is suffering from small-pox, or malig
nant scarlet fever, nothing can excuse the clergyman for
declining to baptize it, if he is assured that it is likely to
die from the disease. If a reckless, habitual drunkard
is attacked with the same disorder, and manifests no wish
for the clergyman s attendance, I do not see that he is
obliged to court the risk in the very groundless expectation
that he may be the means of bringing a reprobate to a
death-bed repentance. If, on the other hand, the ser
vices of the pastor are requested by any person suffering
from an infectious disease, or by any of those about
him who are entitled to speak in his behalf, he must
go, whether the sufferer is such an habitual sinner, or
whether he is a good and holy member of the Church.
There are two rubrics at the end of the Office for the
Communion of the Sick, and a parenthesis in the Sixty-
seventh Canon, which indicate that the clergyman is
supposed to face the danger of infection when duty ab
solutely requires him to do so, but that at the same
time, he is to be careful to minimize that danger to him
self and others. The Canon directs the minister to resort
to any sick person, " (if the disease be not known, or
probably suspected to be infectious,)" and the parenthesis
THE VISITATION OF THE SICK. 221
appears to have been inserted for the purpose of leaving
the minister to his own conscience in the excepted cases.
But the rubric takes a stricter line, stating that, " In the
time of the plague, sweat, or such other like contagious
times of sickness or diseases, when none of the parish or
neighbours can be gotten to communicate with the sick
in their houses, for fear of the infection, upon special
request of the diseased, the Minister may only communi
cate with him ; " and this plainly supposes it to be the
pastor s duty to go into danger on some occasions when
all other persons have fled from it. But a previous
rubric also enjoins that, "At the time of the distribution
of the Holy Sacrament, the priest shall first receive the
Communion himself, and after minister unto them that
are appointed to communicate with the sick, and, last
of all, to the sick person;" and this appears to be a pro
vision against contagion, at least, in the case of the
healthy communicants, there being no other reason why
the sick person should not communicate immediately after
the priest.
Based on these distinct provisions, I venture to lay
down three rules as those by which a pastor should be
guided in infectious cases.
I. He is not to rush into danger when his services are
not sought for, nor likely to be of use.
II. He is not to shrink from danger, when he is
summoned to visit a person suffering from an infectious
disorder.
III. He is to take reasonable precautions against in
fection.
222 THE VISITATION OF THE SICK.
SOME RULES FOR AVOIDING INFECTION.
1. Avoid visiting dangerous cases of illness with the
stomach in a very empty condition, or with the lungs
exhausted by running or quick ascent of stairs. It is
better to take a biscuit and glass of wine before starting
to visit very extreme cases of infectious disease.
2. Do not place yourself between the patient and the
fire, where the air is drawn from the former to the latter
over your person.
3. Do not inhale the breath of the patient.
4. Do not keep your hand in contact with the hand
of the sufferer.
5. Avoid entering your own or any other house until
you have ventilated your clothes and person by a short
w r alk in the open air. You are morally bound to take this
precaution in respect to other sick persons whom you
have to visit 7 ; and, in the case of your own family,
although they must abide by the risks which belong to
your calling, they have a claim upon you for the use of
all lawful precautions in making that risk as small as
possible.
6. In times when you are much among infectious cases,
use extra care to keep the perspiratory ducts of the skin
clear of obstruction, that the excretive force of the per
spiration may have fair play in throwing off infectious
matters floating in the air.
7 Clergymen should know that it is almost certain death to a lying-in
woman to be visited by a person fresh from the bed-side of another suffering
from puerperal fever. I know a case of a medical man who lost several
patients by neglecting to regard this acknowledged fact.
THE VISITATION OF THE SICK. 223
I believe that by keeping up constitutional vigour,
avoiding contact, and attending to the detailed precautions
I have set down, clergymen may visit infectious patients
as harmlessly as medical men do ; and they are such
precautions as the former may use without in the least
foregoing the duties of their office.
And, more than all, they may well have faith in the
protecting Providence of Him in whose work they are en
gaged. We have right and reason to believe that any
dangers which really belong to the duties which God lays
upon us will be neutralized in the discharge of them ; and
in such a faith let the pastor go even to the worst of places,
and the worst of cases, if a real pastoral duty summon
him. But, remembering the answer of One who, when
it was suggested to Him, " Cast Thyself down : for it is
written, He shall give His angels charge over Thee,"
replied, " Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God," so
let the pastor decline to rush uncalled into danger, and
avoid tempting God by a neglect of ordinary safeguards.
CHAPTER VII.
PASTORAL CONVERSE.
IT is so generally acknowledged in the present day that
a clergyman ought to be much among his parishioners
for direct pastoral objects, as well as in that social inter
course of which I have already spoken in the Second
Chapter of this volume, that I need occupy no space in
introducing the subject, but may at once assume that the
reader recognizes the duty of visiting and admonishing
" the whole," as well as the sick, for an integral part of
the cure of souls.
More care, perhaps, is necessary in this than in any
other duty of the pastor to prevent his work from de
generating. If he sets no definite objects before him, he
will either leave off visiting his parishioners almost alto
gether ; or he will go from house to house in a dry statis
tical manner, spending much time, and producing little
result. As the fundamental principle of such visiting,
therefore, he should put before himself these questions as
applicable in every case :
1. What is the particular work I have to do in this
house ?
PASTORAL CONVERSE. 225
2. How is that work to be accomplished, or at
tempted ?
To visit his parish systematically and with
economy of time, he should make himself ^^
thoroughly acquainted with its topography.
This may be done best, by using the maps of the Ordnance
Survey, which are published in three sizes, one, six, and
twenty-five inches to the mile. The middle size is useful
for showing the general bearings of a parish ; but every
house being distinctly marked in the largest size, it is
from that the clergyman will obtain the most practical
information.
It will also be of untold advantage to him
Census of
to get a census, approximate, if not exact, of the parish-
his parishioners. A good- sized volume should
be appropriated to this purpose, a leaf or a page being
used for each household, so as to leave room for changes,
or for remarks. Such a census might be taken without
much difficulty by the clergyman himself, in parishes
where the population does not exceed 1000 or 1200, and
without any offensive intrusion upon the privacy of his
people \ In larger parishes assistants would be required ;
and the parish- rates collector will prove a very useful
ally. If it can be done no other way, it may be done by
taking down the names, and the ages (approximate in
some cases, actual in the case of children), as oppor
tunities offer in the course of visiting. The value of such
1 I obtained permission to assist an incompetent enumerator in 1861,
and by that means secured for pastoral use a complete list of all the in
habitants in a parish near Oxford.
Q
226 PASTORAL CONVERSE.
a record for school and confirmation purposes, and for the
adaptation of pastoral visits to special circumstances, can
not be over estimated.
The objects of such intercourse as that now under
consideration, may be stated generally as that of assisting
and supplementing the work done within the walls of the
church. " In private converse with an individual, you
perceive, and can accommodate yourself to his particular
character and habits of thought, and can then supply just
the kind of instruction or advice that especially suits that
individual. You learn what are the particular difficulties
or objections that most beset him ; and again, the par
ticular excuses by which each may have soothed his con
science ; and which, perhaps, are what you would never
have conjectured. The particular temptations to which
one individual is most exposed, are often quite different
from those of another man. And these you will best
come to understand in private intercourse 2 ." It is mani
fest that intercourse of this kind should not be confined
to the poorer classes alone, nor to the feminine part only
of the households that are visited. But, at the same time,
the educated portion of regular church-going people stand
less in need of it, as a rule, than the uneducated ; and
the occasions of social intercourse which offer themselves
in their case are opportunities to the clergyman in
the houses of the upper class, which are obliged to be
sought by a kind of pastoral intrusion in those of the
lower.
It is no trifling advance to have made with our parish-
2 Whately s Parish Pastor, p. 7.
PASTORAL CONVERSE. 227
ioners (I speak now chiefly of the lower classes), if we
have convinced them that there is not an impassable
barrier between them and their clergyman. It may take
some time to do this ; and when done in some cases,
will require to be done over again in others ; especially
where there is a shifting population. Among operatives,
there is a disposition to think that their clergyman looks
down upon them from a lofty height of " aristocratic "
pretension 3 ; and with this idea in their minds they take
pains to assert their own independence, by holding aloof
from "the parson s" advances, and by sometimes treating
him with surliness and disrespect. It is something, then,
to make them aware that the clergyman of their parish
feels a real brotherly interest in them and their concerns.
And, in fact, the only way of getting them to listen to him
is by getting them first to believe in his manly sympathy
with them. When the ice is broken, and their warm
hearts are reached, they will hear religious conversation
or admonition, and will feel that it is the duty of " the
parson " to point out to them their own duty, and they
will respect him for doing it.
But there are many circumstances arising in the life
of every household in which much comfort will be felt
from the visits, more or less frequent, of the clergyman ;
3 Comparisons are often made between clergymen and Dissenting
preachers in respect to this. The explanation of the greater favour in
which the latter are as friends is to be found in the nearer approach
of their social condition to that of the classes who attend their meeting
houses. But it is generally the clergyman who is sent for when spiritual
help is needed.
Q 2
228 PASTORAL CONVERSE.
and an acquaintance is initiated which may end in the
highest good to the family visited, and the firm establish
ment of a sound relation between them and their pastor.
Times of sickness, death, and the mourning time after
bereavement by death, are obviously such occasions. But
so also are times when affliction has come upon a house
hold or an individual through want of prosperity, or an
actual loss of property ; through the breaking up of family
ties ; the misconduct of young people, domestic differences,
or the quarrels of neighbours. In such cases a discreet
clergyman can quietly interpose his influence without
offence, when any other person would certainly be thought
intrusive. On such occasions the hearts of some, or
perhaps the whole, of the household will be open to the
clergyman ; and he will be of practical use to them,
first, by soothing and comforting, secondly, by giving
judicious and trustworthy advice. From one who thus
proves himself anxious to comfort and advise, rebukes
(if they are necessary at any time) will be taken with
submission ; and the way to a higher Christian life may
be pointed out without causing offence. From such oc
casions of intercourse the pastor may be able to date a
more punctual attendance at church, a habit of com
municating, greater thoughtfulness about the religion of
daily life, more humble recognition of and dependence on
the Providence of God.
. Pastoral Discipline.
According to the standard set up by the Church of
England, the exercise of discipline is no small part of a
PASTORAL CONVERSE. 229
pastor s duty. At the very outset of his career, for example,
he is required to promise that he will " so minister
the discipline of Christ, as the Lord hath commanded, and
as this Church and Realm hath received the same, accord
ing to the commandments of God." In the Canons, again,
there are no fewer than seven bearing on the subject of
discipline, some of which are corroborated by the rubrics
of the Communion Service ; and all of which are illustrated
by the Commination Service and its annual regrets that
discipline is not more strictly exercised. The seven Canons
on the subject are the 26th, 27th, and 28th, on exclusion
of various classes of offenders from the Holy Communion ;
the 112th, 113th, 110th, and 114th, on presenting non-
communicants, licentious persons, and schismatics to the
bishop to be dealt with by him at his discretion 4 . Good
has been done, even in our own day, by a literal obedience
to these canonical injunctions ; and it is probable that a
faithful observance of them by clergymen would often, if
not always, be productive of a sound and real reformation
of manners. Few of us are prepared, however, for a sudden
return to such a course, except in cases where conscience
is positively outraged by the attendance of a notorious and
unrepentant sinner at the Holy Communion. The expense
of following up presentations is almost ruinous to bishops
and clergymen ; and the danger of agitation is too great,
in many cases, to be compensated for by the probability
there may be of effecting good 5 . But on the outline of
4 The Canons themselves are too long to be inserted here.
5 The 115th Canon strongly " admonishes and exhorts all judges, both
ecclesiastical aud temporal, as they regard and reverence the fearful judg-
230 PASTORAL CONVERSE.
this formal system of discipline, the pastor may construct
a sort of system of his own for dealing with his parishioners
in which he will try to carry out the spirit of the Church,
if he cannot act upon the letter of its law.
. Pastoral dealing with -wickedness.
The variety of the cases which an active pastor must
meet with, in which he is called upon to deal with those
who are living in a state of alienation from God, is so
great as to preclude the possibility of laying down any
detailed rules in respect to the mode of dealing with them.
Like the physician or surgeon he must acquire that^know-
ledge and experience which will enable him to make in his
mind a " diagnosis " of each case as it comes before him.
Like them, too, he must endeavour to bring remedies
suitable to each case, for " the coarseness of an universal
panacea will fail in the hand of the spiritual, as it does in
the hands of an ordinary empiric ." He must, too, impress
upon the sinner the necessity of a co-operation on his part
without which remedies must prove unavailing. But unlike
the physician of the body, the pastor has to deal with
persons who are, most frequently, unconscious of their
malady, or suffering no pain from it ; and the hardest part
of his work is to brin g them to the first step on the road
mcnt-seat of the highest Judge, that they admit not in any of their courts
any complaint, plea, suit, or suits against any churchwardens . . . nor against
any minister for any presentment " they may make. I do not feel sure how
far this Canon would secure a clergyman from punishment for libel or
defamation in obstinate cases.
6 Bishop of Oxford s Addresses, p. 106.
PASTORAL CONVERSE. 231
to spiritual restoration, conviction of sin. Yet without
this, all apparent progress will be merely deceptive.
Among all variations of sin, there is, indeed, so much of
generic similarity, that a definite line of treatment may be
laid down which is applicable to every case, though it is
not possible to fill up the details, except as the cases arise.
(1) The conscience must be aroused to a knowledge of sin
as sin ; and it is surprising to find how much work is
cut out for the pastor in his private intercourse with his
parishioners even in giving this knowledge. Conventional
habits, long familiarity with what is wrong, the specious
casuistry which the father of lies has ever had ready at
hand for the sinner since the day when he first beguiled
Eve with his subtilty ; these, and many more influences
act on the consciences of men as anaesthetics operate upon
their bodily senses. It is the work of the pastor to coun
teract the poison, and to restore sensation even by sharp
and electric shocks of pain if it cannot be done otherwise,
lest sleep should pass into an insensibility from which
there is no awaking. (2) The consciousness of sin must
then be made a step to sorrow for it, a fruitful " godly
sorrow, working repentance not to be repented of." (3)
Repentance must be urged forward to its practical results,
confession of sin, restitution and reparation, amendment of
life. A full and honest confession must be made to God
in all cases without exception ; and in some cases it may
be the duty of the pastor to aid the penitent in " opening
his grief." Restitution must be made, where it is possible,
for injuries done to man ; and where it is not possible,
(alas ! how often,) there must be the sincere desire to make
232 PASTORAL CONVERSE.
it if it might be done ; or to undergo some self-denial
which may be in some degree equivalent to it in its effects
towards the penitent. (4) Then all is to be crowned with
the " benefit of absolution " by the " ministry of God s holy
"Word," (either by a personal application of the general ab
solution which the minister of God s holy Word pronounces
in the public services of the Church ; or, if " humbly and
heartily desired," by individual absolution,) and the Holy
Communion received by the penitent as a pledge of his
reconciliation to God, as a promise of amended life, as a
means for gaining that grace by which alone he can fulfil
the promise and maintain his reconciled position.
It is almost impossible to go beyond this general outline
in the present volume, the detail of cases requiring much
space, and belonging more to a work (if such should ever
be written for the Church of England) on moral theology.
In filling up the outline with such detail in his work
among his people, the pastor will find occasion for the
exercise of all his tact, his patience, his discretion, and his
love for souls ; for much remembrance of sinful members of
the flock in his prayers ; and, not to be forgotten, for an
untiring perseverance. There will be many of those on
whom he will begin to work, with whom his work will
never be completed ; there will be some in whom he will
never see the results of his work, though yet it may not be
fruitless ; there will be a few whom he will be able to lead
from sin to holiness, and of whom he may have a good
hope that they will be his "joy and crown of rejoicing"
when his pastoral ministrations are reviewed at the last
account.
PASTORAL CONVERSE. 233
. Pastoral dealing with error.
But it will not be in respect to vice alone that the
parochial clergyman must carry out the spirit of Church
discipline. Private endeavours to draw his people away
from errors of belief are a duty definitely laid upon him
by his Ordination vows. " Will you be ready," asks the
ordaining bishop, "with all faithful diligence, to banish
and drive away all erroneous and strange doctrines con
trary to God s Word, and to use both public and private
monitions and exhortations, as well to the sick as to the
whole, within your cures, as need shall require, and occa
sion shall be given?" To which the solemn reply of the
clergyman to be ordained Priest is, " I will, the Lord being
my helper." These words not only justify a pastor in
speaking to the members of his flock privately on the
subject of their doctrinal errors, but they lay an obligation
upon him to do so from which he cannot escape without
peril of breaking a solemn promise made to God when he
undertook the duties of the pastoral office.
Our dealings with error in the present day may be
divided into dealings with Dissenters, and with that grow
ing class of sceptics w T hose sympathies are more with the
Church than with any separated religious community, but
whose principles form a congeries of negations most dis
cordant with her faith and practice.
Dissent from the Church of England is more often a
matter of accident, habit, or ignorance, than of conscience.
As I write I overlook a tract of country thickly scattered
over with villages, which are inhabited by thousands
234 PASTORAL CONVERSE.
who have probably never seen the interior of the church,
and know nothing whatever of Church religion. These
villages have sprung up in what was formerly a desolate
moorland divided into parishes that spread over many
square miles ; and many of them are as wholly unconnected
with the original church of the parish (except in the
matter of rates), or with any other church, as if none
existed. At a time when the Church was less active than
now, the desire for some kind of visible link between them
and God led the people of these villages to build cheap
meeting-houses for themselves, and some branch or other
of the Methodists has provided them with preachers, men
slightly above themselves in knowledge, and full of self-
interested prejudice against the Church of England. Such
a district is only a type of the rise and spread of dissent
all over the land, whether at the Reformation or at later
times. Where the Church has neglected its duty, there a
lower form of spiritual life has sprung up, whether in
crowded towns or in the open country ; and however
much there is in such a lower form of spiritual life to
excite our regret, there is much in it to claim our sympathy.
Certainly our feelings towards those who are Dissenters
through such circumstances ought to be of a very charitable
nature. It is our duty to do the best we can towards
winning them over to a system which provides them with
7 Some future writer of Ecclesiastical History will point out that wher
ever the Church of England has lost its hold of the people, or the institu
tions of the country, it has been through its leaving ground that ought to
have been, and might have been occupied, uncovered. Hence have arisen
troublesome Registration Acts, Marriage laws, Burial bills, and many others
of the same kind.
PASTORAL CONVERSE. 235
higher privileges, and more certain means of grace ; but
it would be wrong to treat them as wilful and conscious
schismatics. Their real errors are those of indifferent blind
ness to that better way which God s Providence has opened
for them ; and that of easy contentment with the mere ashes
of religion on which they are too often fed, when so rich a
store of good spiritual food is provided for them in the
Church of the land.
But we must guard against indifference to truth in
our desire to show charitable tenderness towards Dis
senters. The Church of England formularies are clear
and decided in their censure of wilful and conscious sepa
ration from its communion ; and it would be wrong in
her clergy to lose sight of these censures in their theo
retical opinions or their practical work. Those are ex
pressly censured in the Canons who deny or impugn the
Sovereign s supremacy, who affirm that the Church of
England is not a true and Apostolical Church, that its
Prayer Book is unscriptural, its Articles of Religion erro
neous, its rites and ceremonies superstitious, its episcopal
character repugnant to the Word of God, its mode of ordi
nation insufficient or wrong 8 ; and such denials certainly
constitute the only grounds on which any could become
Dissenters, if they became so with knowledge of what they
were doing, and on principles of professed religion. Again,
the authors of schism, who " combine themselves together
in a new brotherhood" instead of joining in Christian
profession with "the Christians who are conformable to
the doctrine, rites and ceremonies of the Church of Eng-
8 Canons 1 to 8 inclusive.
236 PASTORAL CONVERSE.
land," are spoken of as persons who have fallen into
" wicked errors," as are those who support and encourage
them in their schism 9 ; and the Thirty-fourth Article of
Religion condemns them as those who "ought to be rebuked
openly, as offending against the common order of the
Church, hurting the authority of the magistrate, and
wounding the consciences of the weak brethren." And
the principles thus formally declared are so thoroughly a
part of the system of the Church of England, that they
are carried into her devotional services at the most solemn
times ; her ministers praying that all who profess and call
themselves Christians, may be led into the way of truth ,
that God would have mercy on all unbelievers, and take
from them all ignorance, hardness of heart, and contempt
of His Word 2 ; and that He will deliver us from all false
doctrine, heresy, and schism, from hardness of heart, and
contempt of His Word and commandment 3 .
These Canons, &c., expand then the text of the Ordi
nation vow which every clergyman makes, that he will
be ready to contend against false doctrine and error when
there is necessity and occasion to do so ; and show that
a pastor cannot, if he is faithful, sit down in the midst
of Dissent and say it is no concern of his, peace requires
that he should let others go their way if they will let him
go his. Nor can he content himself with endeavouring
to drive away error in his pulpit ministrations alone, since
the majority of those who are entangled in its meshes
never come within the walls of his church to hear his
9 Canons 9 to 12 inclusive. l Prayer for all Conditions of Men.
2 Third Collect for Good Friday. a Litany.
PASTORAL CONVERSE. 237
warnings or his arguments. It is his duty to go among
the wandering sheep of his flock in the wilderness, and
seek to bring them home to God s fold with a gentle, but
a firm hand.
The performance of this duty may at first be very un
pleasant to all parties concerned; and under the most
favourable circumstances it requires great tact and delicacy
to perform it successfully. But in the end, both the clergy
man and those whom he has endeavoured to turn from their
errors will probably, even in this life, see cause to be
thankful for the faithfulness and moral courage which he
has shown. It is, however, necessary to observe the limi
tations of the obligation he is under, (1) "within your
cures," (2) " as need shall require," and (3) " as occasion
shall be given ;" limitations which need only to be stated
thus barely to be thoroughly understood, but which yet
ought to be kept in view by the clergy.
And yet when I call these the limitations of this part
of a pastor s duty, it seems almost like playing with words ;
for it can hardly be said that there is any parish in which
need will not often require him to exercise it. The germs
of error are scattered about in our day like the winged
seeds which unnoticed currents of air, as well as boisterous
winds, carry from the wild common or the hedge-row to
the carefully sown corn-fields adjacent ; and unless the
process of weeding is diligently attended to by the labourers
of the great Husbandman, it will be seen in harvest time
that the results of their other labours in ploughing and
sowing are far less productive than they ought to have
been in store for the heavenly garner.
238
PASTORAL CONVEBSE.
For this work, as well as for public preaching-, a sound
study of Holy Scripture is the great foundation. And,
in fact, so far as knowledge goes, that which qualifies
any man to preach in defence of the doctrines of Chris
tianity, will also qualify him to stand up for them in his
private admonitions. It should be remembered, however,
that " he that is of the contrary part " has an opportunity
of reply in the one case, which is denied him in the other ;
and that hence the private conference of a clergyman
with misbelievers is a very good test of the real Scriptural
knowledge which he has acquired. If it is knowledge
which is of the kind that may be called " ingrained," he
will not be at a loss to see the fallacies of those with
whom he has to deal ; and he will be able to use Holy
Scripture to the point, after the manner indicated by our
Divine Lord s application of it at the Temptation, or in
silencing the Scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees. But if it
is a mere knowledge of texts, without a good perception
of the avaXoyia, balance, and spirit of the Scriptures ;
or a mere set of dogmatic propositions which he ushers
in with the venerable formula, " The Church says," the
clergyman of our day will often be driven to feel that his
own weakness is a very insufficient representative of the
strength of the cause which he is advocating.
An acquaintance with the course of error, from the
beginning of the Christian sera to our own time, is also
a most useful auxiliary weapon of oifence and defence
in contending against modern error. In no sense is the
proverb of the wise man more true than as it applies to
misbelief, that " There is no new thing under the sun."
PASTORAL CONVERSE. 239
It may, at least, be said that as soon as the sun of Chris
tianity arose, the roots of heresy began to be planted with
a comprehensive spread that has served for the after
growth and development of every error that the world
has since known. The more we lay bare the foundations
on which unbelief or error in its infinite degrees of strength
stands, the more clearly shall we see that it rests ulti
mately on a larger or smaller space of that comprehensive
denial of Christ which characterized the inspirations of
Satan in the first ages.
Hence, I venture to express an opinion, that all " erro
neous and strange doctrines contrary to God s Word "
ought to be met by a setting forth of the Person, the past
and present work of the Word, to Whom the main part
of the written record points, and against Whom the error
contested is radically opposed. To use a phraseology
that has been very much hackneyed, but yet is very con
venient, if a rationalizing " subjectivity " is the prevailing
vice of modern religion, a rational "objectivity" will be
its best remedy. If the tendency of the times is to in
dividualize, to make our own selves the centre of each
one s religious sphere, to which all else is expected to
converge, then the cure for this is to point to Christ,
whose centrality is supreme over all other centres ; and
to show how the true exaltation of human nature is indeed
to be found only through union with Him.
In contending against all error, then, we should put
this question before us ; How can I so point to Christ
as to be bringing the truth about Him to bear at once,
or ultimately, on this error ; upon these mistakes in be-
240 PASTORAL CONVERSE.
lief or in practice, this heresy or schism? It is sur
prising how universally, and in what variety of modes this
Divine remedy may be brought pointedly to bear ; and
how often it will prove that the Name of Christ is a
weapon wherewith to cast out the devils of unbelief that
would yield to no other argument. But the effective use
of that Name is not to be attained without very diligent,
religious, and official study of Holy Scripture. This alone
can make a minister of the Word of God, a true GeoXoyo^.
It will enable us to bring out the light of some general
principle, by means of which the relation between God
and man may be so clearly shown as to cut the ground
from under the arguments which the adversary puts into
men s minds. But the useable knowledge of that general
principle we shall probably have attained only by long
and careful study ; just as some invaluable remedies be
longing to the physician s art, although simple in their
own composition, require to be separated from many other
and extraneous substances, by tedious processes, before
they can be brought into a state fit for use.
Again, it is of great importance that the pastor should
acquire the power of analyzing the general belief of those
who are in error, so that he may be able to see what is
really wrong in it, and in what manner it combines with
what is right, so as to disguise its poisonous character.
For it is to be observed that, except in the wilfully apos
tate, the religious errors of mankind are always com
mingled with an element of truth. The extreme of
rationalist opinion, for example, represents that "the
Christ " is to be found, not in a Divine and Human Person
PASTORAL CONVERSE. 241
external to ordinary humanity, but in humanity itself, as
in so many agglomerated atoms. This doctrine always
amounts to a real denial of Christ s existence, and yet
it is crystallized around a morsel of truth, a fragmentary
notion of the great principle that men " dwell in Christ,
and Christ in them ;" that He is the sanctifying Person
by whose indwelling, through the operation of the Holy
Ghost, men are made one with God and with each other.
Such a morsel of truth obviously offers a common starting-
point, from which we may go forward in our arguments
with a Rationalist.
To change the illustration ; let us suppose the case of a
Wesleyan Methodist, whom we are trying to win back
to the Church of his fathers. Shall we go to him and
say, in effect, You are altogether wrong ; we alone are
right ? By no means. On the contrary, I would gladly
admit, at once, that Methodism sprung out of an earnest
desire for more spiritual religion than the clergy and
the society of the last century encouraged ; that the
founder of the community was a man of great zeal, per
sonal piety, and mental power; and that it was only
through a self-satisfied settling down on the lees of poli
tical Churchmanship, that John Wesley and his followers
were driven to their meeting-houses instead of being kept
within the walls of their parish churches. And having,
as occasion offered, shown that the history of Methodism
is as familiar to the clergy as it is to the Methodists
themselves, and that they can feel much respect for its
origin, it would be easy to point out how modern
Methodism differs from that of John Wesley; that he
242 PASTORAL CONVERSE.
never meant his followers to separate from the Church
of England ; and that a tradition of his intentions is still
kept up by some old people when they assert, as they
often do, that they are Church people as well as Me
thodists. It makes no small impression on "Wesleyans
to prove to them that their system was intended to
supplement, not to supersede the ordinary Church system 4 ;
and that Wesley would have thought it a very great sin
for his followers to content themselves with their meeting
houses, instead of only using them after they had been to
church, and felt the need of further prayer. NOT would
it be difficult, in a well-ordered parish, to carry this
argument further, by pointing to what the Church offers,
and contrasting it with what the meeting-house offers;
to show them that the services of the Church are more
abundant, more full of Holy Scripture, more truly spi
ritual, and less merely human than Methodism ; that,
whereas, the latter was originated on the plea of a
necessity for higher spiritual life than the former afforded,
now times are changed, and the Church provides far
higher spiritual life for those who choose to avail them
selves of it, than any other religious community in
England.
One other illustration shall be offered from a recent
4 It was founded, in fact, on the system of Religious Societies, which
had been formed in the Church of England under the leadership of
Horneck, author of "The Crucified Jesus ;" which were strongly ad
vocated by Samuel Wesley, the father of John Wesley, in 1699 ; and
which were also in full activity at Oxford, when John and Charles Wesley
were undergraduates of Lincoln and Christ Church. These Societies
must not be confounded with those for the Reformation of Manners.
PASTORAL CONVERSE. 243
experience of my own ; and I offer it with reference to
the dissemination of errors by means of tracts, which are
thought to be religious and Scriptural by those who cir
culate them, and by those, probably, who, in their igno
rance, presume to write them. Going into a sick room,
I found such a tract lying on the woman s bed, entitled
" The Way to Heaven ;" and, as it consisted only of four
small pages, I looked it through before opening the Bible
to read. The first page showed that Christ is the only
way to heaven, quoting St. John xiv. 6, as proof; but it
showed it in a manner which had a strong controversial
odour, and indicated an arrtire pensee. A little further
on, accordingly, the tract went off into declamatory
violence, the* substance of which is indicated in the words,
" Mark well ! Infant baptism is not the door ; adult
baptism is not the door ; ministers are not the door. . . .
Let me entreat you to beware of resting on forms or
ceremonies, on a profession of religion, or on membership
with any visible Church whatever V I had reason to
think the tract had been left for the purpose of counter
acting my advice, that the dying woman should receive
the Holy Communion. Accordingly, but without any
reference to the tract itself, I at once said a Penitential
Psalm, and read the first half of the sixth chapter of St.
John s Gospel, expounding the miracle as an illustration
of Christ s providing by His Divine Power nourishment
for the bodies of a famishing multitude, and dispensing
5 Tract No. 92. Dublin Tract Repository, and 9, Paternoster Row :
London .
R 2
244 PASTORAL CONVERSE.
that nourishment to each by the hands of His ministers ;
my prayer afterwards following in the same key. On the
next two visits, I went on with the chapter, expounding
the remainder of our Lord as the Provider of grace for
famishing souls, which He dispenses in the Holy Com
munion, and by the hands of His ministers. The analogy
thus drawn out at length worked in with the strong
language of the tract in its true part, and confuted its
false part out of Holy Scripture ; and, although the
tract fell upon soil greedy to receive its teaching, I am
sure that the real Christ of the Scriptures was too strong
for the phantom Christ which the tract, and those who
circulated it, were ignorantly substituting.
It seems to me to be of great importance to show our
people by such methods of dealing with them, that we
have no fear of the spirit of inquiry ; but that what we
fear is a spirit which inquires too little, and is really
a spirit of ignorance. A large proportion of the half-
sceptics, who are now to be met with in all ranks of
society, are young men who have thought a little about
the principles of Christianity and practical religion, but
who are so easily satisfied, that their studies never go
more than skin deep. Consequently they are extremely
open to the fashionable tone of the day about " doubt,"
"free inquiry," "inner consciousness," and so forth.
Just as young men used to imagine themselves duplicate
Byrons, because they went loose at the neck, when
most people except Byron went about in tight cravats ;
so now they will occasionally look you in the face
with a solemn air, and profess that they are suffering
PASTORAL CONVERSE. 245
mental pangs of metaphysical labour in their "search
after truth." They read Maurice s Essays, a scrap or
two of Strauss or Schleiermacher, Essays and Reviews
here and there, part of Colenso s thin octavo ; and having
thus obtained a few ideas, and a great deal of peculiar
phraseology, they take these as their stock in trade, with
which they think they may confidently set up in oppo
sition to old-world believers.
We must be careful to carry our process of analysis
beyond the speech of such men into their minds. There is
some desire to know the truth about Christianity, and what
belongs to it ; and some little error picked up from such
reading as I have indicated. But we might run into
danger of fixing the error if too much importance were
attached to it, as held by persons of this class ; and of
strengthening the conceit which is really their vice by
omitting to combat it. These young men of our day are
not like the vicious young infidels of a former generation,
men whose infidelity was cut to fit their profligacy, they
are not altogether unreflective in their habits, not by any
means men who can be effectively met by dogmatic asser
tions. Their fault is that they are far too easily satisfied ; and
too little anxious for the truth which they imagine them
selves to be searching after, when they are only learning
to doubt. There are not a few such who may be made to
feel ashamed of their superficiality by a pastor who has his
resources well in hand, especially if he can adopt a tone of
Socratic banter in his earlier dealings with them. And
when their superficiality has been laid bare to their eyes,
they will have a desire for more complete knowledge,
246 PASTORAL CONVERSE.
which will offer the clergyman an opportunity for pointing
out to them sources of sound information on such subjects
as form the topic of conversation, solid pabulum of old
Divinity, which will soon disgust their minds with the
flatulent second-hand Germanism that audaciously arro
gates to itself the almost exclusive right to be considered
" modern thought."
In dealing with all error, it is best boldly to show that
we are not afraid for our doctrine to be brought into the
light of the Gospel to be tested by it. Let us declare and
exhibit the highest reverence for truth and light wherever
we may find them. And let us also show that we will be
utterly unsparing towards Satanic simulations of truth,
and to darkness which professes itself to be an angel of
light. If we can persuade men to seek more light, and
not to be content with what comes to them through the
obscuring and distorting medium of human whims, fancies,
and prejudices, we shall be waging the strongest war we
can against error in all its forms.
And, in all such contests, if we pray God to make our
zeal the zeal of His house, and not leave us to any zeal of
our own will, opinion, or party, we shall win the day as
individual pastors seeking to save our own flock from
harm ; and, as a collective clergy, striving for the honour
of God in the Church of England, and the kingdom at
large.
CHAPTER VIII.
PASTORAL GUIDANCE.
MANY of the cases contemplated in the last two chapters
are such as can be treated with success only by means of
a more definite, personal, and individual intercourse than
can be adopted in the course of ordinary parochial visitation.
For neither pulpit teaching of the most faithful and judi
cious, nor parochial visitations of the most diligent kind,
make that distinct and definite mark upon the minds and cha
racters of his people which the pastor will desire. Preaching
will go a long way, with those who can " take it in," towards
guiding them in the particular details of Christian doctrine
and Christian life ; but experience of human nature shows
that the number of those whose minds are so trained as to
make them capable of doing this is comparatively small ;
and that there is a far larger proportion of our flocks who
are unable to make that definite and logical application of
a sermon which would give it this value. And, again,
though something may be done towards this pastoral
guidance in detail when the clergyman is visiting his
parishioners at their own houses, yet he almost always
248 PASTORAL GUIDANCE.
finds a rival there in the shape of domestic affairs, hospita
lity, or business.
Detailed ^ ar ^ e more effectual way of making this
guidance impression in detail upon the character is to
best given
at the par- get people to come to the clergyman at his
own house, as freely as it has become the cus
tom for him to go to theirs. If they thus come, whether
it be for instruction or guidance, they come with a definite
purpose connected with religion ; and, making that the
business of the hour, there is nothing to interfere with the
pastor in the pursuit of his object, and much less of dis
traction than there would otherwise bo on the other side.
It may not be easy to get English people to come to their
clergyman s house in this way ; but I feel convinced that
much advantage is gained by it, and that the gain is
worth a persevering effort to obtain it. To break down
the reserve towards clergymen which prevents it being
done is something ; but it is far more to be able to indi
vidualize the flock so as fully to instruct and guide them
in the religious life ; and this cannot be done otherwise,
except with the sick.
. Instruction Classes.
A good opening for such personal intercourse
uSJed erS ma y be found in the cultivation of Bible, Prayer
there by Book, and Communion classes, which are some-
classes.
thing intermediate bet wen public and private
intercourse, and still better by means of the Religious
Societies which are referred to in the end of the eleventh
chapter. These bring parishioners into a habit of " finding
PASTOKAL GUIDANCE. 249
their way " to the clergyman s study or parish room, and
extinguish that extreme and absurd diffidence which is so
commonly felt about seeing him within his own doors.
By arranging an easy mode of access a great point and
by making those who come feel that they are really
welcome, even the most timid may be got to have a sort of
home feeling towards the accustomed room at the parsonage
such as they have towards the Church itself.
Classes of this kind will be found extremely useful for
supplementing all other work of instruction, and for in-
graining truth into the mind. They admit of a detail
which would be out of place in the pulpit ; and they also
allow the teacher to adopt a tutorial rather than a pro
fessorial system ; to use a combination of the catechetical
and the Socratic method which vivifies the knowledge
imparted, making its communication more interesting ;
and also solidifies it by drawing out the reasoning powers,
and not trusting merely to dogmatic teaching on the one
side, or to memory on the other. " The parson once
demanded after other questions," says Herbert, "about
man s misery ; Since man is so miserable what is to be done ?
And the answerer could not tell. He asked him again,
What he would do if he were in a ditch ? This familiar
illustration made the answer so plain, that he was even
ashamed of his ignorance ; for he could not but say, he
would haste out of it as fast as he could. Then he pro
ceeded to ask, whether he could get out of the ditch alone,
or whether he needed a helper, and who tvas that helper ?
This is the practice which the parson so much
commends to all his fellow-labourers ; the secret of whose
250 PASTORAL GUIDANCE.
good consists in this ; that at sermons and prayers men
may sleep, or wander ; but when one is asked a question,
he must discover what he is 1 ." And while
Which drive ... o m
instruction instruction in the Holy Scriptures and Theo
logy, in the history and use of the Prayer
Book, in Ecclesiastical History, or in Christian morals is
thus driven home, it is given under circumstances which
will prevent the knowledge gained from being intellectual
only and unspiritual. Reverent habits and modes of thought
may be firmly grounded, a devotional knowledge and an
intelligent devotion originated, and those thus trained will
learn to use not heart and voice only, but the understand
ing also in the service of their God, by whom that under
standing is given.
. Pastoral Advice.
But instruction is not the only purpose for which a
pastor is called upon to encourage and cultivate the free
access of his people to himself. When a thorough and
habitual confidence is established between them, there will
be sure to be many appeals to him for advice, which he
may use as most profitable opportunities for assisting those
who come to him in the progress of their religious life.
The broad outlines of right and wrong are easily distin
guishable by any ordinarily well-brought up
much in de- Christian ; but the detail and particular appli-
tails of Chris- ca ^ n of moral laws require thought, logic,
tian morals.
book-knowledge, and much acquaintance with
human nature ; and these are not qualifications possessed
1 Herbert s Works, i. 161.
PASTORAL GUIDANCE. 251
by the multitude. It would be a great advantage to
many persons to be able to go to their clergyman to seek
his guidance on doubtful points respecting their Christian
duty in the affairs of common life, as they would go to their
solicitor for advice in matters of law. For want of such
counsel the halting half- decisions of an ill-informed con
science frequently open the way to declension. "Well-
meaning persons fall into sin before they know where their
course is leading them. Sinful habits become fixed and
firmly rooted, which might have easily been torn up when
they were just beginning to form ; and the persons yielding
to their power at last would have been glad to have eradi
cated their first germ, if they had certainly known that it
was the germ of a sin.
"Herein indeed," says Herbert again, "is
the greatest ability of a parson, to lead his b^a Casuist
people exactly in the ways of truth, so that
they neither decline to the right hand nor to the left.
Neither let any think this is a slight thing. For every
one hath not digested, when it is a sin to take something
for money lent, or when not ; when it is a fault to discover
another s faults, or when not ; when the affections of the
soul in desiring or procuring increase of means, or honour,
be a sin of covetousness or ambition, and when not ; when
the appetites of the body in eating, drinking, sleep, and
the pleasure that comes with sleep, be sins of gluttony,
drunkenness, sloth, lust, and when not, and so in many
circumstances of actions. Now if a shepherd know not
which grass will bane, or which not, how is he fit to be a
shepherd ? Wherefore the parson hath thoroughly can-
252 PASTORAL GUIDANCE.
vassed all the particulars of human actions, at least all
those which he observeth are most incident to his parish V
It is not every clergyman who could thus trust himself to
be adviser to his parishioners in the details of Christian
morality, universally as clergymen are so constituted in
respect to the general guidance which may be given from
the pulpit. Something of a judicial mind is required in
those who would advise soundly and promptly ; and, while
books and logic will go far, only long experience will give
that matured knowledge of human nature which will make
a clergyman s decisions entirely what they ought to be.
Divines of former days seem to have been great adepts in
this part of their work ; and some of their " Cases of con
science " (especially the nine bearing Bishop Sanderson s
name) are admirable examples of the elaborate and com
plete way in which they arrived at their decisions. But
with more humble qualifications than those of Sanderson,
a clergyman may be a sound counsellor to his flock in
ordinary matters of Christian law. And by becoming so
he may preserve many an one from declension ; may stop
in their outset many differences which would otherwise
have become serious quarrels ; and may be able to suggest
many subjects for reflection (and perhaps for repentance)
to those who come for his advice, the very mention of
which in any other way would have quite alienated his
parishioners from him. The effect of such work on the
character of the latter cannot be overrated, especially in a
day of vague morality like our own.
2 Herbert s Works, i. 128.
PASTORAL GUIDANCE. 253
. Confession.
This brings us to the consideration of a subject which
would a few years ago have been thought by many clergy
men to be altogether beyond the pale of a volume treating
of the principles and practice of pastoral work in the Church
of England; but which it would be impossible to omit
noticing now, without a serious dereliction of duty on the
part of a writer who professes to speak of pastoral work
with reference to the best interpretations of it,
and in all its parts. If I were to say nothing Reasons for
about the pastoral use of Confession, I should Confession.
be justly chargeable with omitting to notice
that which many holy, far-sighted, and experienced
clergymen look upon as a very valuable part of the
pastor s work, and which many lay people of our day
actually demand as a right from the clergy.
The fact is, that confession has always been
used more or less by the clergy and laity of the Its use
Church of England, and even by Protestant names,
dissenters, but under some other name. John
Newton was practically confessor to a large number of
persons in the circles of London society, during the eight
years of his life at St. Mary s, Woolnoth. Scott, the
commentator, received people to private interviews, of a
character closely analogous to confession, at the vestry
of the Lock Chapel. Mr. Simeon held a similar position
among the undergraduates of Cambridge to that held by
Newton among the religious people of London. Almost
all zealous clergymen of the Evangelical school were
254 PASTORAL GUIDANCE.
accustomed to encourage their people in opening out their
hearts to them, "telling their experience," as it was
called, for the sake of gaining spiritual advice and help
from their pastors ; and they were also encouraged in
going at once to the vestry, if their consciences had been
awakened by the sermon, for this purpose 3 . In such cases,
the confession was made, but a prayer for pardon or for
conversion was used in the place of Absolution. With
respect to less recent days than those of the Evangelical
school, it is a fact that there is hardly a Divine of the
Church of England, from Archbishop Cranmer to Bishop
Tomline, who has written on the subject of penitence, and
has not referred to Confession and Absolution as an ordi
nance of the Church of England.
For these reasons it would be presumptuous to consider
the subject of Private Confession as altogether out of court
in treating of a modern clergyman s work ; and whatever
may be my own inclinations, or those of my readers, it
is our duty to see, first, what are the principles of the
Church of England respecting it, as shown in her laws
and formularies, and, secondly, how those principles are to
be carried out in the practice of a modern pastor.
I. The specific references to Private Con-
U fession contained in the official documents of
Church on fa church of England are the four following.
the subject.
(1) A Rubric enjoins that sick persons shall be
3 In my own boyhood I remember being taken (when under strong
religious impressions) to an Evangelical clergyman of the most extreme
school, for a purpose exactly analogous to confession; though the much-
respected relative who took me, and the clergyman himself, would have
energetically repudiated the application of that name to the interview.
PASTORAL GUIDANCE. 255
moved to make special confessions. (2) An Exhortation
enjoins persons to go to a clergyman to confess, and to
receive absolution, if they cannot quiet their consciences
by private self-examination. (3) A Canon enjoins secrecy
on all clergymen receiving confessions. (4) A Homily
refers to Private Confession as an usage not forbidden in
the Church of England .
(1) The Rubric is contained in the Office for the Visi
tation of the Sick : " Here shall the sick person be moved
to make a special Confession of his sins, if he feel his
conscience troubled with any weighty matter. After
which Confession, the Priest shall absolve him (if he
humbly and heartily desire it) after this sort." The
Absolution so enjoined being as follows : " Our Lord
Jesus Christ, who hath left power to His Church to ab
solve all sinners who truly repent and believe in Him,
of His great mercy, forgive thee thine offences ; And by
His authority committed to me, I absolve thee from all
thy sins, In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Ghost. Amen." The words " be moved to "
were introduced at the last revision of the Prayer Book in
* I am not quite sure that a fifth ought not to be added. The rubric
before the Communion Service is :
" So many as intend to be partakers of the Holy Communion shall signify
their names -to the curate, at least some time the day before." This is
taken from Hermann s Consultation, 207 : " We will that the pastors
admit no man to the Lord s Supper, which hath not first offered himself to
them; and after that he hath first made a confession of his sins, being
catechized, he receive absolution according to the Lord s Word .... and
for this purpose let the people be called together at eventide the day be
fore." In Ireland a bell is still rung the day before " Sacrament Sunday,"
the original purpose of which was that here referred to.
256 PASTORAL GUIDANCE.
1662 ; and it must be allowed that they give the Rubric a
force, as regards the priest, which they did not possess
before. As it now stands, this injunction imposes on the
clergy the duty of persuading the sick to make private
or special confessions, of receiving those confessions, and
of giving absolution, should the sick person s penitence be
so sound, as that it can be said he " humbly " as well as
" heartily " desires it.
(2) The Exhortation is the third paragraph of the
warning exhortation to the Holy Communion: "And
because it is requisite, that no man should come to the
Holy Communion, but with a full trust in God s mercy,
and with a quiet conscience ; therefore, if there be any of
you, who by this means cannot quiet his own conscience
herein, but requireth further comfort or counsel, let him
come to me, or to some other discreet and learned minister
of God s "Word, and open his grief ; that by the ministry
of God s Holy Word he may receive the benefit of ab
solution, together with ghostly counsel and advice, to the
quieting of his conscience, and avoiding of all scruple
and doubtfulness."
In the original form of this exhortation (1549), there
was a further period of about equal length with the above
paragraph, which seems to indicate that an apologetic
tone was deemed expedient at the earlier period of the
Reformation, for which there was no necessity afterwards.
This I subjoin, as it also elucidates the meaning of our
present exhortation, and contains some wise words very
applicable to ourselves at the present time. " Requiring
such as shall be satisfied with a general confession, not to
PASTORAL GUIDANCE. 257
be offended with them that do use, to their further satisfy
ing, the auricular and secret confession to the priest ; nor
those also which think needful or convenient, for the
quietness of their own consciences, particularly to open
their sins to the priest, to be offended with them that are
satisfied with their humble confession to God, and the
general confession to the Church. But in all things to
follow and keep the rule of charity, and every man to be
satisfied with his own conscience, not judging other men s
minds or consciences; where as he hath no warrant of
God s Word to the same."
(3) The 113th Canon ends with an injunction of secrecy
on confessors in the following words : " Provided always,
That if any man confess his secret and hidden sins to the
minister, for the unburdening of his conscience, and to
receive spiritual consolation and ease of mind from him ;
we do not any way bind the said minister by this our
constitution," [respecting the presentation of offenders]
"but do straitly charge and admonish him, that he do
not at any time reveal and make known to any person
whatsoever any crime or offence so committed to his trust
and secrecy, (except they be such crimes as by the laws
of this realm his own life may be called into question for
concealing the same,) under pain of irregularity."
(4) In " the Second Part of the Homily of Repentance "
it is said that "if any do find themselves troubled in
conscience, they may repair to their learned curate or
pastor, or to some other godly learned man, and show
the trouble and doubt of their conscience to them, that
they may receive at their hand the comfortable salve of
258 PASTORAL GUIDANCE.
God s Word;" by which phrase was no doubt meant the
word of absolution, as ordained by our Lord, and referred
to in the Absolution previously quoted from the Office for
the Visitation of the Sick.
II. From these authoritative statements we
have to draw out the principles of the Church
from the o f England in respect to the use of Confession
preceding.
and Absolution. The absence of any more
stringent injunction is also, under the circumstances of
the case, an important piece of evidence, and even autho
rity, not lightly to be passed over.
a. It is quite clear that the private confession of sins
to a priest is considered to be of much value to certain
persons, under certain circumstances ; also, that it is no
where forbidden, but is in several places recommended,
and enjoined.
|3. A clergyman is bound to receive those of his own
parishioners who wish to confess their sins to him, and,
under particular specified circumstances, to exhort and
persuade them to do so. He is also bound to absolve
those who thus confess, if their penitence is such as to
make them fit for absolution. It is also evident that it
would be a want of charity if he refused to receive any
who (wishing to use the liberty allowed to the laity
of going out of their parishes) came to him for the same
purpose, though not belonging to his own flock.
7. That the Church of England neither enjoins nor
prohibits frequent or habitual private confession ; nor
any where recognizes it as a part of her pastoral system.
8. That private confession is not essential to salvation.
PASTORAL GUIDANCE. 259
The Church of Rome has authoritatively decreed that
"This sacrament of penance is necessary unto salvation
for those who have fallen after baptism ; even as baptism
itself is for those who have not as yet been regenerated;"
and that confession was "instituted by the Lord, and
is of Divine right necessary to all who have fallen after
baptism 5 ." If such had been the doctrine of the Church
of England, that doctrine would undoubtedly have been
stated as clearly as it is in the case of the two sacraments
"generally necessary for salvation." And this would
have been the more necessary, because the only places
where confession is enjoined appear to represent it as
essential only under particular circumstances; while the
Exhortation of 1549 expressly speaks in the most chari
table terms of those who do not think confession ne
cessary for themselves, without giving the slightest
intimation that they are running into danger by its
omission.
III. From the principles thus deduced, there can be no
doubt the Church of England contemplates that the duty
of receiving the private confessions of her
f 11 The pastor s
members may tall upon a clergyman at any duty as con-
time of his pastoral life; and that he ought to fessori jotto
be evaded.
be prepared to act when the time comes. It
is a painful duty, at least, I cannot enter into the feel
ings of those to whom it is otherwise, but the pastor
has no right to evade it ; and he must undertake it as
he does other duties of his office, for the love of God and
5 Cone. Trident. Sess. XIV. c. ii., Iv.
S 2
260 PASTORAL GUIDANCE.
of the souls committed to his charge. It is almost un
necessary, perhaps, to add that he need be under no
scruple on account of the objection often raised, that to
hear confessions and to absolve penitents is an undue
assumption of authority on the part of one human being
towards another. He acts in the Name of the Chief
Pastor, not in his own ; and acts in obedience to the
rules of that Church from which he receives his com
mission as a minister of God. To those, however, who,
like myself, feel the painfulness of the duty strongly, I
would suggest one mitigating reflection, which is, that
the mere unburdening of the conscience is to some
persons a source of spiritual strength in their contest
with sin, while the absolution, faithfully and worthily
received, is one of the greatest blessings which one human
being can be the means of conveying to another.
IV. A careful consideration of the principles
Whom to ^ UB 8e t <j owrL f or our guidance, will also lead
persuade to
confess. to the conclusion that there are certain well-
defined cases in which it is the duty of the
pastor to " move " the sick to make a " special confession
of their sins," and to exhort others to do so who cannot
quiet their consciences by self-examination, confession
without the private intervention of a priest, and the abso
lutions of the public services.
It seems, for instance, as if the use of Con-
by violence, fession, Absolution, and (if possible) the Holy
Communion, would meet the necessity of the
case in those instances to which I have referred in a note
on p. 205 ; where, from accident, battle wounds, or sudden
PASTORAL GUIDANCE. 261
mortal sickness, it is evident that there must be no delay
in settling affairs both of the body and the soul. In such
cases I have one vividly present to my memory as I
write the clergyman called in may be a total stranger to
the sufferer. He does not know whether that sufferer has
led a religious or a wicked life, and relatives or friends
are little likely to tell him the whole truth, even if they
know it. He has no circumstances to guide him to the
course he has to take, but the fact that a sinner lies before
him, who, whether his sins are many or few, is about to
appear before the judgment-seat of God. I have had the
cry of the poor dying sufferer, and of his weeping relatives
ring in my ears in such a case, " Do something for me ! "
" Oh, lead him to make his peace with God before he
goes ! " What better way could I devise under these cir
cumstances than that suggested by the Visitation Office ?
to do all I could to move the dying man to "make a
special confession of his sins," to comfort him with " the
benefit of absolution," and to draw him as near as I could
to the mercies and blood-shedding of his Redeemer by
giving him the Holy Sacrament of which that Redeemer
said, " Whoso eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood,
hath eternal life ; and I will raise him up at the last day."
If any should reply that earnest prayer and the reading of
Holy Scripture would have been equally effectual to the
end in view, I can only say (1) that I do not see on what
ground such an assertion is made, and (2) that these are
part of the course recommended 6 .
6 It may be observed that Confession and the Holy Communion are almost
invariably used in the case of criminals sentenced to death, shortly before
their execution.
262 PASTORAL GUIDANCE.
But it is often said that the injunction of the
Sick persons
offering Visitation Office does not apply alone to those
penitence. extreme cases in which immediate death is cer
tain : and there is assuredly no such limitation
n the words "sick person," nor in the general character
of the Office. It will therefore be the duty of the pastor
to consider how far any ordinary sickness may be so
attended by a good promise of repentance as to call upon
him to act literally on the words of the rubric. Herbert
says, " Besides this, in his visiting the sick or otherwise
afflicted, he followeth the Church s counsel, namely, in
persuading them to particular confession ; labouring to
make them understand the great good use of this ancient
and pious ordinance, and how necessary it is in some
cases V It seems to me that no one can lay down for
another any rules to be adopted in the selection of such
cases : but that, having regard to the duty imposed upon
him by the Church and to the spiritual condition of the
sick person, each clergyman must decide for himself when
and how, or whether at all, to advise confession as an aid
to penitence.
With respect to those who are in health, the
h 10 ifh in on ^ guides given to us by the Church are the
passage in the Exhortation to Communion, and
the few words in the Homily " Of Repentance," both of
which have already been quoted. In applying the prin
ciples so indicated, it would seem to be the pastor s duty
sometimes to follow up the public exhortation by an exhor
tation in private. There are often cases of wicked persons,
such as those described in the former part of the Com-
7 Herbert s Works, i. 155.
PASTORAL GUIDANCE. 263
munion Service exhortation, who become much, impressed
with the necessity of repentance, and have great desire to
repent, but who, at the same time, know nothing whatever
of any way of "quieting their consciences/ except the
way of those fanatics who think that to " feel pardoned "
is all that is necessary to a reconciliation with God. Such
persons may have a desire for the Holy Communion, and
it may be the wish of the pastor that they should even
tually partake of it ; but there is some danger that they
may drift into an unrepentant participation of it, if their
consciences are not thoroughly enlightened as to the
greatness of sin and the nature of repentance. It is pro
bable that a real conviction of sin in such cases will often
lead persons to wish to " open their griefs " to the clergy
man, and " receive the benefit of absolution." The same
may be said also of those who have the weight of some
special sin or sins, such as dishonesty, seduction, or pro
fligate living, on their consciences. And it is also plain
that they who complain that they cannot " quiet their own
consciences," that their own unassisted repentance seems
imperfect, that they cannot be " satisfied with a general
confession," are likely to be much benefited by the adop
tion of the course under consideration. All of such cases
can, without hesitation, be classified as among those con
templated by the bare words of Church of England formu
laries; and others might no doubt be included, without
any violation whatever of the principles there laid down.
V. But, notwithstanding the variety of cases L; mitat ; ons
which thus seem to come within the range indicated by
of the principles laid down by the Church rules.
264 PASTORAL GUIDANCE.
on this subject, it must certainly be evident to every
one carefully studying the actual and authorized sources
of those principles that there are certain limitations by
which we ought to be guided in our use of confession,
which restrict us, for the most part, to those who have
been spoken of as fit subjects for it in the preceding
pages.
It has been already shown that it is quite
Confession a impossible to suppose that confession is es-
tomc for the
weak. teemed necessary to salvation by the Church
of England. It may be added that, at least
with those who are in bodily health, confession is set forth
by the Church of England as a spiritual medicine for the
weak, and not as food for the daily nourishment of the
strong. It is " when they cannot quiet their consciences,"
that persons are exhorted to confess their sins privately to
a priest ; that is, when they cannot, after honest and
faithful self-examination, confess their sins honestly, faith
fully, and fully to God, and accept the public absolution
as a declaration of forgiveness for the sins they have so
confessed. Now there are many persons who are both
competent and willing to do this ; persons whose intellect
and conscientiousness will insure them against any serious
mistake, even if they have no assistance from a clergyman.
Such persons as these may be said to be so strong (in the
matter of which we are treating) as to stand in no need of
the spiritual tonic provided by the Church for those who
are weak. If such persons voluntarily seek the " benefit
of absolution " in private, their confession ought un
doubtedly to be received by the pastor to whom they
PASTORAL GUIDANCE. 265
apply : but it seems to me to be a deviation from the prin
ciples of the Church of England to exhort them to do so,
as if honest, searching confession to God, and the personal
application of the public absolution did not avail for a
perfect repentance. The Exhortation of 1549 is certainly
more in accordance with the general tone of the Church of
England ; and although now omitted from our formularies,
there is no proof whatever that the principles on which it
was founded have been altered by its omission or by any
other authoritative act of the Church.
Again, the frequent or habitual use of con
fession is not provided for, nor can I see that it
is recognized by the Church of England. The jjotprovided
utmost that can be said is that it is an open
question. If so, then the pastor assumes a grave respon
sibility who recommends such habitual use of the ordinance
to his flock; a responsibility which he assumes without
actual support from the Church of which he is a minister.
He should carefully consider what the consequences will be
of the advice he gives ; and should also carefully examine
the grounds on which it is given ; whether they are such
as are a fair foundation for a clergyman of the Church of
England to build upon, or whether they are the opinions
and practice of foreign Churches, adapted for persons ac
customed to southern habits, perhaps, but not for those
whom an English clergyman has ordinarily to deal with.
If habitual confession had been intended in the Church of
England, it would hardly have been left unnoticed. If it
had been the practice of the Church of England, there
would have been more definite mention of it in the writings
266 PASTORAL GUIDANCE.
of her divines. The farthest, however, that any of the
latter ever go towards advocating such a practice is shown
in the following extract from Jerenry Taylor s " Guide to
the penitent ;" and it is clear that even in this passage the
writer is not contemplating the case of a regular com
municant, or a person in strong spiritual as well as bodily
health.
" Besides this examination of your conscience (which may
be done in secret between God and your own soul), there
is great use of holy Confession : which, though it be not
generally in all cases, and peremptorily commanded, as if
without it no salvation could possibly be had ; yet you arc
advised by the Church, under whose discipline you live,
that before you are to receive the Holy Sacrament, or
when you are visited with any dangerous sickness, if you
find any one particular sin or more that lies heavy upon
you, to disburthen yourself of it into the bosom of your
confessor, who not only stands between God and you to
pray for you, but hath the power of the keys committed to
him, upon your true repentance, to absolve you in Christ s
name from those sins which you have confessed to him."
Nor is it without reason that so much feeling is shown
by English people against the practice of private habitual
confession. It is allowed even by the strongest advocates of
the practice that it is apt to destroy that proper
Lessens pro- m
per self- self-reliance which every Christian ought to
have, and to make him walk on human crutches
rather than depend on the Divine and supernatural support
of grace. The sense of personal responsibility is weakened
in a serious degree. "There are persons," says Mr.
PASTORAL GUIDANCE. 267
Gresley, " females especially, who have brought themselves
so entirely to yield their conscience to the guidance of
others, that they have no will or choice of their own : and
it is clear that if such persons fell into the hands of design
ing priests, they might be made the tools of much iniquity."
The frequent, habitual private confession of venial sins
is, in fact, trifling with the ordinance, and throwing a
slight upon the general confession and public absolution of
the daily and the Eucharistic services. Instead of encou
raging such a habit, the pastor should rather teach his
people how to "quiet their consciences" by using for
ordinary life the ordinary means of grace : and he should
endeavour to lead them out of that moral weakness which
incapacitates them from making an unassisted confession
to God, and from receiving His pardon in the public ordi
nances provided for that very purpose.
It is impossible not to observe that confession
appears to possess a kind of fascination for some
niinds, especially for those of women living in
r . J .
a narrow circle of society ; and that under its
influence they are dangerously liable to a sort of spiritual
valetudinarianism in which they do not so much seek
strength from the remedy used as a confirmation in the
idea of their weakness, and to be treated as weakly per
sons. I cannot think it is wise in a pastor to overlook
this fact, or to disregard it. A physician might find
several good reasons for continuing to treat as really
unable to walk one whom he knows an alarm of fire would
startle into robust action and energy in a moment. But
the physician of souls must not run the danger of really
268 PASTORAL GUIDANCE.
weakening the moral strength which God has given by
under- estimating its amount, or seeming to do so. He
must therefore be on the watch against any such morbid
sensitiveness in those who apply to him to receive their con
fessions ; and above all must carefully guard against giving
encouragement to the imagination, in the invention of sins.
St. Paul enjoins tenderness towards weak brethren, but he
certainly would not advise us to encourage their weakness,
and add to their number.
Another danger attending frequent private
Danger of ... . . , .*
indifference confession is one oi exactly the opposite cha
racter, that of becoming indifferent to sin. If it
is used, not from morbid sensitiveness, or blindness to the
value of the public ordinance, but because the person really
has serious sins to confess time after time, the frequent
repetition of those sins shows that the confession of them
in private has not produced the effect for which it was
partly used, that of strengthening the moral nature, and
enabling the sinner to stand more firmly against tempta
tion. In such cases there is apt to grow up in the mind
some such idea as this, "I have got rid of my sins by
confession and absolution : I make a fresh start with
a moral tabula rasa : if I am unfortunate enough to give
way to temptation again, I can again go through the same
course." Here again I may quote from the advocate for
confession whose words I have already used. "The
avowals of foreign writers on this subject afford convinc
ing evidence that, where confession is periodical and com
pulsory, persons will too frequently come as a matter of
course, and without due contrition, and confess their sins,
PASTORAL GUIDANCE. 269
without forming any decided resolution of forsaking them.
Confessors also become careless and perfunctory ; while it
requires even more than the average skill and holiness in
the confessor to infuse a spirit of true contrition into these
formal penitents ; consequently, there is a great danger of
those who make such confession remaining really impeni
tent, and deceiving their own souls V
It is true that a faithful pastor would warn persons of
this kind in the spirit of Ezekiel xviii. 24 ; but it becomes
a serious question whether they are not more injured than
benefited by the frequent use of private confession, and
whether they ought not rather to be treated in another
way.
I have not based these suggestions in any degree upon
the prejudices which are felt by English people against
habitual confession, because it might be our duty to try
and overcome them : nor have I referred to the objection,
entertained by many good and wise men, that it often
involves confidences with a third party, which the English
character can never tolerate. For other reasons, and those
of a strictly spiritual nature, it would seem unadvisable for
a clergyman of the Church of England to encourage the
habit in his flock ; and as it is not provided for by the
Church, he is keeping strictly to her rules and spirit when
he ordinarily limits the use of confession to the cases
which have been mentioned as those seeming to call for
its remedial and restorative application.
Before parting with the subject of this chapter, it may
8 Gresley s Ordinance of Confession, p. 136.
270 PASTORAL GUIDANCE.
be as well to refer again to the 113th Canon,
reticence! The spirit of that Canon clearly extends to all
kinds of confidential intercourse between a
clergyman and his parishioners as well as to actual con
fession. It is almost impossible to suppose that any pastor
could be so forgetful of his duty as to transgress against
the rule of absolute secrecy which is enjoined in con
fession : but there would be more confidence between the
clergy and their parishioners if the former made it more
clear than they often do that the intercourse held with
their parishioners was not a staple subject of domestic
conversation. A parishioner may wish to make a com
munication to his pastor, and very much object to the
slightest hint of that communication being given to that
pastor s wife or to any one else. There cannot be too
close reticence in such matters : and if it is known that
the lips of the clergy are sealed in respect to all commu
nications made to them, not of a manifestly open kind,
there will be much more disposition on the part of the
laity to consult them for the good of their souls, and to
seek that pastoral guidance of which an outline has been
sketched in the preceding chapter.
CHAPTER IX
SCHOOLS.
THE pastor s position in relation to the schools of his
parish, is fixed partly by the inherent responsibilities of
his office, and partly by the modern crystallization of
fresh duties and cares around it .
First, since the clergyman to whom cure
of souls is committed has a comprehensive The pastoral
, /> -n j i i T_ M car c of cliil-
charge of all, young and old, he is necessarily
the pastor of the children of his flock as well
as of adults. And as in their infancy his duty towards
them is to baptize them into the fold of the Good Shep
herd, and at a later period to bring them before the
Bishop for confirmation, so in the space between these
epochs there lies an interval during several years of which
it is his duty to look after them with a keen eye to see
that they are receiving Christian training in the way that
they should go. The clergy act, in general, as if this duty
rested upon them only in respect to the children of the
1 It may be noticed that Canons 77, 78, 79, referring to the licensing of
schoolmasters by the Bishop, and the preference of clergymen for the office,
apply to Grammar Schools only. Parochial schools are not even mentioned,
e. g. in Bishop Burnet s Pastoral Care.
272 SCHOOLS.
poor ; and there is probably a much larger proportion of
middle and upper class children than of the poor, who
never come under the clergyman s eye or guidance, unless
at the time preceding confirmation. But, although more of
the pastor s personal labour may be required in the case of
poor children than in that of the others, I do not see that
there is any real distinction as regards the ultimate spiri
tual responsibility ; and in this, as in other matters, class
preference has led the clergy into a mischievous practical
error, the result of which they feel deeply ; that of neglect
ing the pastoral supervision of those children who grow
up to form the influential classes of society.
Secondly, the clergyman of modern days is
educational recognized by society as its agent for all kinds of
agents for matters connected with the education of those
society.
who have a claim or a partial claim upon a
public provision of the means of education. There are two
reasons why this is so. One is that the clergy have taken
more practical interest in the work of educating the poor
than have any other classes of society, and consequently
most of the labour entailed has fallen into their willing
hands. And the other is, that the old tradition still clings
to the heart of the nation that the Church is its chief
educator, and the clergy therefore the chief ministers of
education as well as of religion. Such manifest advantages
to practical religion result from this venerable educational
theory, and it would be so extremely difficult for the clergy
to act up to their responsibilities in feeding Christ s lambs,
if it lost its hold upon society, that it is plainly the duty of
every pastor to accept it willingly, although by so doing
SCHOOLS. 273
he will probably draw upon himself some inconveniences,
responsibilities, and labours, which do not essentially
belong to his office 2 .
But the pastor should place before himself
distinctly the object for which he thus under- pa s t oralduty
takes to become practically responsible for towards edu-
the education of the poor of his parish. It
is that he may promote the training up of children in
the "nurture and admonition of the Lord;" that they
may under his influence become morally and religiously
fitted to do their duty in that state of life to which
it shall please God to call them. He may have strong
views as to the necessity of intellectual training for the
lower classes, but whether he has or not, their intel
lectual training is not part of his pastoral obligation. His
one end should be to exercise such influence over their
education that it may be of a kind which shall make them
better Christian citizens than they would have been without
it ; and whether he promotes a high class of secular educa
tion or discourages it, let him do so with this end in
view.
In carrying out his pastoral duties towards
children, the clergyman must not confine him- Schools of
self entirely to the children of the poor. At class. * g
least in town parishes there will be schools for
2 In the 1856 and 1857 volumes of the National Society s Monthly Paper,
there are some Essays by the present writer on the duties of Churchmen
with reference to National Education, and on its History, in which the course
of it as Church-of-England education is traced from ancient to modern
days.
T
274 SCHOOLS.
the education of boys and girls of the middle classes,
and where there is not a clergyman at the head of such
establishments, it is his duty to seek admission to them
for the purpose of giving religious instruction. In many
cases, the offer of his services will be gladly accepted;
and in few would it be declined if such offers were more
common than they are. It will then become one of his
weekly engagements to spend an hour on one or more
days at such schools over a catechetical lecture on Holy
Scripture, in which he will probably find it best to take
the Catechism as his guide, and by means of which he
may give many useful illustrations of the devotional ser
vices of the Church. He will thus be continually laying
a foundation for confirmation instruction ; and will, be
sides, be imparting to children of the middle and higher
classes a kind of knowledge in which they are often more
deficient than the children of the poor. The time thus
spent will be among the best of all the hours that the
pastor expends on the work of education. He will be
gaining access to minds which are afterwards to influence
others, will be giving firmness to the general religious
tone of the school, and will be preparing some of the
comparatively alienated classes of society for accepting
the Church-of-England system and its pastoral machinery
with frankness and affection in their after life.
I may remark here that the clergy should
Endowed exercise great watchfulness with respect to any
endowed schools that may exist in their
parishes. In most cases they are ex officio trustees of
such foundations, and have a good deal of power in their
SCHOOLS. 275
hands ; yet abuses have often sprung up which ought
never to have been permitted, and which hinder their
full usefulness. It is the positive duty of the clergyman
to make himself thoroughly acquainted with the history
of all eleemosynary foundations in his parish, and with
the laws under which they are governed; and in few
cases will he be doing a more real service to religion, as a
man of education, than by such research, and by (if
possible) acting upon it. But for his influence it would
often happen, and does sometimes happen, even now,
that good sound Grammar Schools would degenerate into
mere " Commercial Academies," and the work of middle-
class education become watered down to a miserable
standard of learning, far below what was intended by the
founders, what the institution is capable of giving, (if
properly administered,) or what is fit for the class of youths
who partake of its advantages.
. Parish Schools.
But it is in that which is distinctively called the parish
or church or national school that the clergyman finds
himself most completely master of the situation. It may
be that he is wholly responsible for the funds by which
it is maintained, beyond what is provided by the chil
dren s pence; or that he is one of a committee of sub
scribers; or one of the managers in a school under
government inspection ; but in either case the practical
management of the school rests almost entirely in his
hands, and it depends chiefly upon him whether it is or
is not what it ought to be. Supposing then that he has
T 2
276 SCHOOLS.
found, or has secured the appointment of, a teacher,
or of teachers in whose educational ability and religious
principles he can have confidence, the work of the pastor
in reference to such a school will generally mould itself
under these three heads. (1) He must control, and take
active part in the religious instruction of the children.
(2) He will have to exercise a general supervision over
every department of the school, for the purpose of making
it efficient according to the requirements of the day,
so that the Church school may be visibly the best school
of its class in his parish. (3) The business management
of the school will certainly rest upon his shoulders, and
perhaps the responsibility of providing, or obtaining
from his parishioners, the money necessary for its main
tenance.
With regard to the direct control to be ex-
Necessity of ercised by the clergyman over the religion of
religious
education the school, it may be observed that the prin-
admitted. ciple of the Church, that of conducting edu
cation in subordination to religion, is much
more generally admitted among thoughtful persons of
every class than it used to be some years ago. "I be
lieve," said Mr. Henley to the House of Commons, in
1855, "that education, to be of value, and especially that
which it is the duty of the State to promote, ought to be
of that kind which trains the mind upon the solid founda
tion of religious teaching, reaches the heart, and elevates
the condition of the people, so that they may know what
is, and how they are to do, their duty to God and man ;
and doing their duty to God and man may successfully
SCHOOLS. 277
struggle through this life to the life to come 3 ." Such,
in the main, is the opinion of most educated men ; and
though some are jealous of the power acquired over the
minds of the people by the Church of England in her
schools, yet no one questions the right of the clergy to
carry out their duty in all which can be claimed as be
longing to their parochial jurisdiction.
The pastor will have the satisfaction, then, of feeling
that he is not opposed by the opinion of his generation,
when he attaches primary importance to religious edu
cation; and from his point of view, the theory of re
ligious education will assume the form assumed by the
well-known proposition, that true Christian education
consists not so much in imparting knowledge as in draw
ing out the grace of God for the work of life. Know
ledge is good only when directed to a good end ; and it
is so plain that good ends are not the natural seeking of
unregenerate hearts, or those in which the grace of re
generation lies dormant, that it is clear knowledge must
be imparted with an eye to its control by grace. Know
ledge is power, but there is such a thing as raising up
a giant power in the unbridled intellectual faculty, whose
action will be destructive to its possessors.
"While, then, the necessities and tendencies of the age
call for a high degree of secular instruction even in our
schools for the labouring classes, it is plain that this
increase of knowledge requires to be tempered by an
active spirit of religion. In the days of childhood, at
* Speech, May 3, 1855.
278 SCHOOLS.
least as much as, perhaps more than, at other times of
life, the Christian must be looked upon by the pastor
not only in respect to what God has made him by nature,
but also as to what He has made him and will make
him by grace ; and this principle must regulate all his
course in the pastor s dealings with his parish school *.
Hence it is exceedingly valuable to work the school
definitely into the Church system of devotion, and not
to rest only on the acquisition of religious knowledge 5 .
No Church scholar should be permitted to grow up in a
habit of not going to church on Sunday ; and, indeed, I
would urge it as highly desirable that the school should
attend daily morning prayer, as well as the Sunday ser
vices. Every school begins its work with prayers ; and
nothing can be more suitable (where the school is, as it
ought to be, under the shadow of the Church) than for
those prayers to be offered in God s house, and in the
recognized forms of the daily service, that the young
4 Sec Appendix C.
5 The necessity of this was strikingly illustrated by the mortifying fact
which Mr. Mann made public in his Educational Census of 1851. "At
first sight it appears inevitable that, in course of time, the mass of the
population, educated of necessity in Church -of-England schools, must
gradually return to the Church ; but, in opposition to this natural anti
cipation, is the curious fact that, while for many years past at least four-
fifths of all the children who have passed through public schools must have
been instructed in the day schools of the Church of England, concurrently
with this a very rapid augmentation has been proceeding in the number
of Dissenters, so that now they number very nearly half of the total popu
lation of the country." There may be some improvement since 1851, but
I can myself point out a mass of population of which Mr. Mann s words are
still true, that Church schools do not make Church people.
SCHOOLS. 279
people may grow up in familiar acquaintance with the
words and habits of Divine worship 6 . It is also an ex
cellent habit for the clergyman, or one of them if there
are several, to keep on his surplice after service, and cate
chize then and there daily instead of giving the Scripture
lesson in school. By an orderly exactness no more time
need be occupied, and of course there is a great advantage
in making the Scripture lesson so evidently a religious
business.
In marking out a course for himself and the
school in the matter of religious instruction, instruction
the clergyman should guard against the very
prevalent error of modern education, that of taking too
wide a range. It has long been felt by practical men
that the diffusion of educative power over many sub
jects is far inferior in its results to the concentration
of it over a few, whether those results be considered
as a matter of knowledge or of mental discipline 7 .
This has been the case with the religious instruction
imparted to the children of our National schools, almost
as much as with other branches of education. To gain
a minute acquaintance with the Holy Bible is the labour
of a lifetime, not of a few years of childhood; and
the endeavour to give such information is almost sure to
6 Private schools may occasionally be found attending Divine service
every morning ; and the short walk to and from church is, I am told, a great
treat to the pupils, promotes their health, and is so contrived as to be no
hindrance to their school work.
7 This has been recognized in the Revised Code, which encourages the
limitation of poor schools to the teaching of reading, writing, arithmetic,
and religion.
280 SCHOOLS.
hinder children from gaining that broad knowledge of
Bible history and doctrine which will be really useful to
them as a guide of conduct and a preservative against
error in their future life. The object of teaching the Holy
Scriptures to children of ten or twelve years of age is not
that they may for a short time have the details of its
history at their fingers end, but that the outline of it may
be so ingrained into their memory as to form a basis for
subsequent teaching, or intelligent reading of the sacred
volume 8 . The facts of Holy Scripture must not, indeed,
be neglected, very far from it, but it should be the endea
vour of the clergyman to secure such a knowledge of them
on the part of his little ones as may have a moral as well
as an historical hold upon their minds and memories. To
use the Holy Bible only as an ordinary book of history
might be used is to give up the most important part of its
influence upon those who are learning it ; and while it is
very questionable whether such an use of it by any one at
any time of life must not have a damaging effect upon the
mind, it is certain that the school life of poor children is
too precious a time for us to permit any of the moral
influence of the Bible lesson to be thrown aside by the
teacher, whether clergyman or schoolmaster. Thus, while
8 It is surprising to find how little the labouring classes really understand
the most ordinary references to Holy Scripture which are made in the pulpit.
But how can it be otherwise unless a more theological system of teaching it in
schools is adopted ? Let the reader ask a few children to name without any
prompting six of our Lord s ancestors ; he will probably find Joseph, Moses,
Joshua, Samuel, Elijah named as five of the number, and David for the sixth.
Yet the banie children will know many incidents in the lives of the persons
named.
SCHOOLS. 281
the historical facts of the fall of man, of our Lord s ministry,
or of St. Paul s life, are drilled into the memory of the
children, let them be drilled in as the seed which the Sower
went forth to sow, by the clergyman s elucidation of their
connexion with the doctrines of our religion, and the prac
tical conduct of the Christian life. Children have been
known to answer glibly to a government inspector s ques
tions about the facts of man s fall, and the facts of the
Gospel, who had not the remotest idea of any connexion
between the two sets of facts, or of the relation which both
had to their own individual selves as Christian children.
The parish clergyman will have to guard against such an
erroneous system of teaching in himself and in his school
master. In the young trained teachers of our day espe
cially, there is sometimes too much tendency to use the
Bible merely as a text-book, and to make the religious
instruction a mere matter of smart answers to the govern
ment inspector. A kind and friendly explanation of his
views on the subject should therefore be given to the
teacher by his clergyman in private; and his interest
excited, as well as his co-operation secured, in the pastoral
application of the Bible lessons which are given in his
school 9 . The chief object of the clergyman in his inter-
9 It is probable that caution on this point will be more than ever needed
under the new Government system, since there will be a greater temptation
than ever to " cram " the children for the inspector s examination : so much
depending on his approval of the religious instruction. The inspectors have
a great opportunity before them for giving a higher tone to the religious
teaching of our schools, and it may be expected that some will avail them
selves of it. But if a government inspector has had no pastoral experience,
he is very likely to look still for statistical rather than moral " results," and to
282 SCHOOLS.
course with the children of his parish as well as with others,
must be that of winning souls for Christ; and in this
ask such questions as the well-known " Who slew a lion in a pit on a snowy
day ? " or, " How many cubits square was the court of the Tabernacle ?"
It may be a convenience to the reader for me to annex here the " Instruc
tions " under which government inspectors are still required to act. They
were issued by the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1840.
" INSTRUCTIONS TO HER MAJESTY S INSPECTOBS.
" In the case of schools connected with the National Church, the inspectors
will inquire, with special care, how far the doctrines and principles of the
Church are instilled into the minds of the children. The inspectors will
ascertain whether church accommodation of sufficient extent, and hi a proper
situation, is provided for them ; whether their attendance is regular, and
proper means taken to ensure their suitable behaviour during the service ;
whether inquiry is made afterwards by their teachers how far they have
profited by the public ordinances of religion which they have been attend
ing. The inspectors will report also upon the daily practice of the school
with reference to Divine worship ; whether the duties of the day are begun
and ended with prayer and psalmody ; whether daily instruction is given in
the Bible ; whether the Catechism and the Liturgy are explained, witli the
terms most commonly in use throughout the authorized version of the Scrip
tures.
" They will inquire, likewise, whether the children are taught private
prayers to repeat at home ; and whether the teachers keep up any inter
course with the parents, so that the authority of the latter may be combined
with that of the former in the moral training of the pupils. As an important
part of moral discipline, the inspectors will inform themselves as to the
regularity of the children in attending school, in what way registered,
and how enforced; as to manners and behaviour, whether orderly and
decorous; as to obedience, whether prompt and cheerful, or reluctant
and limited to the time while they are under the master s eye ; and as to
rewards and punishments, on what principles administered, and with what
results. The inspectors will satisfy themselves whether the progress of the
children in religious knowledge is in proportion to the time they have
been at school ; whether their attainments are showy or substantial ; and
whether their replies are made intelligently, or mechanically and by rote.
The inspectors will be careful to estimate the advancement of the junior as
SCHOOLS. 283
object the schoolmaster must consider himself as a lay
coadjutor of the pastor in no small degree.
As a general rule, the clergyman s work in the religious
instruction of a school (to view it now more in detail)
will consist chiefly of thus supplementing the work of
the master in the same department. The master, trained
for the special purpose of teaching, will be able to im
part knowledge of Scripture, the Catechism, or the Prayer
Book, better than the clergyman, unless the latter has
also had some training as a teacher of children. But the
clergyman will be better able, from his theological edu
cation, the more reflective character of his daily studies,
and his constant dealings with many minds in the work
of his parish outside the school, to give that practical tone
to the lessons of which I have been speaking; and to
make them conducive to the formation of religious cha
racter. It will be of little use for me to enter into much
detail as to the mode in which his own personal parti
cipation in the religious instruction of the school is to
be carried on, but I will venture to offer some general
suggestions which may help those of my readers who
have had but little experience in school work towards
forming a plan of their own.
1. There should be a good understanding be
tween the clergyman and the ordinary teacher
of the school, as to the subjects which are to cl(3r gyman
and teacher,
form the basis of the religious instruction for
well as of the senior class, and the progress in each class of the lower as well
as of the higher pupils. And in every particular case, the inspector will
draw up a report, and transmit a duplicate of it, through the Committee of
Council on Education, to the Archbishop of the Province."
284 SCHOOLS.
the year, or for some definite period, and as to the par
ticular line to be taken in teaching them. It is a very
excellent plan, and one which prevents much waste of
power, for the clergyman to draw up a sketch of a series
of lessons at the commencement of each school year or
half-year, and to give a duplicate of it to the school
master, as a guide to ensure their co-operation. Such a
scheme appears to me to be even better than any text
book or analysis, as it must necessarily reflect the general
teaching of the pastor in his pulpit and his parochial
ministrations, and so ensures a general consistency in the
religious knowledge imparted by him, which dovetails
that of one period of life into that of another, and makes
a connected whole instead of a congeries of several parts.
As an example of such a series, I annex one on the first
year of our Lord s ministry in a foot-note ; but more
1 " Series of Lessons on the First Year of our Lord s Ministry.
1. Appearance and preaching of John Baptist, Matt. iii. 1 12. Mark i.
18. Luke iii. 118.
2. Baptism and temptation of Jesus Christ, Matt. iii. 13 17 ; iv. 1 11.
Mark i. 913. Luke iii. 2123; iv. 113.
3. Testimony of John Baptist concerning Jesus Christ immediately after
the temptation :
1. To the Priests and Levites, John i. 1928.
2. To his own disciples, John i. 29 42.
4. Jesus in Galilee, John i. 43 51 ; and at Cana (the first miracle), and
at Capernaum, ii. 1 13.
5. Jesus at Jerusalem: cleansing of the Temple, John ii. 13 25; inter
view with Nicodemus, iii. 1 21.
6. Jesus baptizes in Judea; John s last testimony concerning Jesus, John
iii. 2236.
7. Interview with the woman of Samaria, John iv. 1 42.
8. Jesus returns to Galilee; lieals the nohlernan s son at Capernaum,
John iv. 1351.
SCHOOLS. 285
may be learned by the experience gained in getting up
such a series from private study than by any example ;
and this the well-read pastor can easily do for himself
with the assistance of Greswell s Harmony, and the late
Dr. Townsend s useful Chronological Bible.
2. Promote reverent handling and reverent
use of the Bible by the manner in which in- ^bitsT^
struction is given in it, whether by the clergy
man or the teacher. Both should show themselves to be
in earnest, and require the children to be in earnest also.
Loud and hurried voices, sharp, impatient expressions,
a cold business-like tone, should be carefully avoided ; for
9. Preaches at Nazareth, Luke iv. 14 32 ; and at Capernaum, Matt. iv.
1217. Mark i. 14, 15.
10. Calls four disciples, Matt. iv. 18 22 ; works many miracles, Mark i.
1635. Luke iv. 3341.
11. First circuit of Galilee, preaching and healing, "which occupied about
three or four months, Mark i. 35 39. Luke iv. 42 44. Matt. iv. 23 25.
[Sermon on the Mount, Matt. v. vi. vii. To be taught the children
after they have gone through the history.]
12. Miracle of the draught of fishes, Luke v. 1 11.
13. Miracle of the cleansing of the leper, and others, Luke v. 12 16.
Matt. viii. 24. Mark i. 4045.
14. Cure of the paralytic and call of Matthew, Matt. ix. 2 9. Mark ii.
114. Luke v. 1728.
15. Objections of the Pharisees, and our Lord s answer, Mark ii. 15 22.
Luke v. 2939.
Places specially to be noted on tlie Map occurring in the above Lessons.
Galilee Iturea Trachonitis Abilene The region about Jordan Beth-
abara Bcthsaida Cana Capernaum Jerusalem JEnon Salim Sa
maria Jacob s Well Sychar Xazareth Mount Gerizim The land of
Zebulon and Nephthali The sea of Galilee The various cities and villages
of Galilee [estimated by Josephus at 204, the population of each upon an
average not less than 15,000 souls] Syria Decapolis The Mount of
Beatitudes."
286 SCHOOLS.
they arc sure to be reflected in some way in the children,
and to lay the foundation of habits which are not those
one desires to see in Christian people.
3. Let the catechetical method of instruction
catechize be adopted rather than the lecture form of
teaching. Experience proves that the former
alone engages the interest of children, and sets
their reasoning powers to work on what they have learned.
Care should, of course, be taken to attain the art of speak
ing to children in simple language, and plain illustration.
Answers should be given by individual children, not by
the class collectively ; though occasionally the latter mode
is suitable and convenient for impressing upon all the
answer which has been given by one or two previously ;
and watchfulness is needed to see that such answers are
not taken from- the few forward children of the class
exclusively.
4. It is best not to extend the actual reading
little only beyond a few verses. The Bible lesson is not a
reading lesson. The following is the plan sug
gested by a Board of Education, with the
sanction of the very high practical authority of Arch
deacon Allen and Mr. Flint.
" Method of giving a Bible Lesson. To read about six
verses ; select next those words in these on which the
sense much depends, and define them ; then question on
the subject-matter; and lastly, draw moral lessons from
the whole moral lessons should always be drawn from
facts the teachers to be calm and composed, and to make
frequent pauses. A lesson which is a continual rattle
SCHOOLS. 287
from beginning to end fails in effect ; a Bible lesson should
promote reverence, not emulation and quickness so much ;
the lesson should begin with a prayer, such as Open
Thou my eyes that I may behold, &c. Such chapters as
Ileb. xi., Acts vii., should be frequently taken as an
epitome of Bible history ; lessons should be given on the
graces and failings, illustrated by the lives of Scrip
tural characters, and a precept on the grace or failing in
question should close the lesson for the pupils to commit
to memory."
5. Let the Bible lessons for the half-year be
limited to a small range of Holy Scripture, take tew
There is danger of the children learning no- Wlde a
o
ran^e.
thing if their lessons are extended over four
or five books of the Bible, read chapter after chapter ; or,
at least, of the knowledge acquired being of an indefinite
and unconnected kind, very different from what it ought
to be in proportion to the expenditure of time and labour.
If a child carries away from school, at twelve or thirteen
years of age, a clear knowledge of the book of Genesis,
our Lord s history, and the early chapters of the Acts of
the Apostles, it does credit to the labours of the teacher
and the clergyman. Too often they leave school with a
fragmentary recollection of the more interesting parts
of Holy Scripture, impressed (and not very deeply) upon
the memory, rather than the understanding. If less were
attempted, more would be done.
6. The good old practice of learning portions
of Holy Scripture "by heart" is too much
slighted in our modern high-pressure system Scripture
r by heart,
of education. Perhaps there is an idea abroad
288 SCHOOLS.
that since Bibles are so abundant as to be in every house
and every bed-room, the reading of Scripture may be
supposed to supply the place of memory. But if it were
read in proportion to the abundance of the supply, the
reading would often fail to provide an equivalent for that
tenacious grasp of long ago learned texts on the mind,
which keeps them ready for use in times of temptation,
sickness, or affliction ; and makes them the basis of devout
meditation to many a man in the midst of his hard labour,
or to aged persons who can no longer read. Moreover, it
is impossible to remember the use made by our blessed
Lord of Holy Scripture in His temptation, without seeing
how valuable a pre-occupation of the mind with portions
of it may be to children in their early struggles with " the
world, the flesh, and the devil." Much practical defence
against temptation might be found in such recollections of
the book of Proverbs ; and much abiding comfort, as well
as material for devotion, in the book of Psalms. The
advantage of thus knowing Holy Scripture by heart is
fully acknowledged when the necessity to which it is ap
plicable arrives, how was it thus acknowledged by many
a poor fellow as he lay wounded and dying in the Crimea !
Let us anticipate that necessity by a return to the good
old practice, devoting several hours of the elder school-
children s time weekly to the storing up of suitable texts
and chapters in their memories.
7. Finally, let the practical duties of the Christian life
be made the frequent end of Scripture teaching ; and
above all, the duty of private prayer, in respect to the
use of which by the children particular inquiry should be
made, and plain instructions given.
SCHOOLS. 289
I will not attempt to lay down any rule as to the
frequency of the clergyman s visits to the school for the
purpose of taking part in the religious instruction. In
some parishes he will be ahle to give the school a more
prominent place in his daily plans than is possible in
others ; and in some instances more than in others, he
will be able to place great reliance upon the schoolmaster
for carrying out his system efficiently. An hour on one
day of the week seems to be the minimum time which he
should allow for this object, and an hour every school-day
the maximum. More time than the latter need very rarely
be given, since the clergyman is not to take the place of
the teacher in the school, but to supplement his work.
Important as pastoral labours in the school may be, they
are not the only pastoral labours that are so : and my
observation leads me to doubt whether school or clergy
man are improved by his too frequent presence there J .
After all, his great purpose in going to the school to take
part in the instruction of the children is to ensure that
they shall not only know about religion, but that as far as
his endeavours can bring about such a result, they shall
be practically religious also.
But the pastor s influence is to be exercised
in the school not only in the matter of direct Formation
religious instruction. The formation of good character,
habits will depend not a little on his super-
2 Great caution should be used as to lowering the schoolmaster s position
in the eyes of the children.
U
290 SCHOOLS.
vision of the school, which supervision will require in him
a tolerably exact acquaintance with its routine in general,
and with the continuous course of its daily management.
Wise politicians set a high value upon the clergy of the
Church of England, as the most effective national police
that exists, but for whom crime would extend enormously.
Not less is their influence felt in the development of
national character, where they make the most use of the
circumstances and means within their reach. It has been
truly said, that if the clergy withdrew their support from
the poor schools of the country, two-thirds of them would
collapse within the following three months. Equally true
is it, that upon the influence which they there exercise
depends, in a great measure, the social character of the
next generation of that class who are trained there.
Trifling points of discipline, which are in themselves of
the very smallest consequence, are of importance in their
effect upon the formation of character ; and the seeds of
future character are sown so early in life, that the future
of the adult depends largely upon the school days of the
child the tree growing as the twig is bent. School
masters and mistresses are apt to be short-sighted and
forgetful as to these apparently trifling points of disci
pline, and often require to be reminded of their moral
importance by the clergyman.
What I refer to may be classed generally under the
heads of Christian courtesy and gentleness, the two quali
ties which are essential to true manliness or true woman
liness of character. There need be no interference with
the independent feeling of the poor ; and yet they may be
SCHOOLS. 291
trained in early life to that highest form of self-respect
which consists in a recognition of their own true position
in relation to others. But the present generation is
universally acknowledged to be deficient in this particular ;
young men and young women of the lower classes assuming
a vulgar independence very different from the true manly
or womanly tone I have spoken of. An illustration of this
is readily at hand in the passing salutation given by
persons of the labouring class to their clergyman. Old
men, (operatives, pitmen, or agricultural labourers,) may
often be found who raise their hats with the air of nature s
gentlemen 3 ; but the younger men, who have passed
through our schools during the last twenty years, know
hardly any mode of salutation but the short sidelong
gesture which I have sometimes heard characterized as
" the Dissenting nod." There is a moral in this difference.
It is not that the former are more deficient in independent
feeling than the latter, but it is that they instinctively,
or by education, recognize the interdependent relation of
classes ; while the newer form of salutation is much mixed
up with a kind of " I-am-as-good-as-you" feeling, which
is certainly not true in that sense in which it is entertained.
This tendency to swagger has, therefore, a sufficient moral
importance to be worthy of the clergyman s attention in
supervising the morale of his school. Some discipline
shoiild be established analogous to that observed on board
3 Is it necessary for me to suggest that the respectful salutations of the
poor should be always cordially acknowledged ? Even the " bob " of the
little four year old maiden should have its cheerful " Good child " by way of
response.
F 2
292 SCHOOLS.
Queen s ships by juniors towards seniors, and by the men
towards the officers. A quasi- military salute should be
required from the boys, and a gentle curtsey from the
girls on meeting the clergyman or the teacher in the
street as well as in the school. Habits of courteous " Good
morning " should be taught 4 , of standing at the entrance
of visitors into the school, of " Thank you," and " If you
please," and so forth ; all trifles in themselves, but all
affecting the future social tone of the class trained in
them. And such training is becoming all the more
necessary as the demands for youthful labour increase in
mining, manufacturing, lace, and straw-plait districts,
where the early earning of wages by children places them
in an unnatural position of self-support which requires
every help to make it safe to themselves, or otherwise
than disagreeable to others.
It is very desirable to gain the co-operation of the
parents of the children and of other persons in the work
of education. A little thoughtfulness on the part of the
clergyman will lead him to suggest and encourage a few
words about their children s schooling when he is visiting
the parents ; and an occasional visit to the school might be
permitted, under strict regulations as to silence and non
interference. Among the many plans suggested for ob
taining the co-operation of parents in securing regular
4 There are parts of the country where this salutation is absolutely for
gotten by the people, so that they do not understand it when used by
strangers. The substitute is a grim " Fine day," an expression of opinion
instead of one of good will.
SCHOOLS.
293
attendance, I know of none that work better in practice
than a simple attendance card like that annexed, which is
soon understood, and which offers a tangible bonus on
regularity, in the shape of clothing club or savings bank,
or some other form of benefits at the end of the year.
This Card is to show the Parents how many days in each
week their child attends School.
The Child is to bring the Card to the School every Monday
morning. It must be kept clean.
The Clothing Club rewards will be distributed to the Parents
of those children who come to School most regularly.
o
o
o
I I
1
Fifty of them may be filled up in ten minutes by the
teacher with the help of a junior pupil-teacher or first-
294 SCHOOLS.
class scholar ; and they should be filled up and returned
with punctuality in the afternoon of every Monday.
School treats should also be made a means of interesting
the parents as well as the children, but some detailed hints
on this subject will be found in a later page. An occa
sional note from the schoolmaster or mistress in the case of
continued irregularity is often useful, and still more a
personal remonstrance ; but the plan of removing the
child s name from the school-books after a certain number
of absences is one that can hardly be recommended until
there is greater sensitiveness to such a punishment on the
part of parents and children than there is at present.
But much dependence may be placed upon the quality
of the school for success in securing regular attendance and
general co-operation on the part of parents : and if the
school is really good, the fact should be made known pretty
freely that it may not be undervalued by the parents. A
little innocent self-assertion on the part of a school makes
it to be better estimated, better known, and more popular.
. Infant Schools.
The necessity for compressing into as small a space of
time as possible the substantial education of poor children
has led to a recognition of infant schools as an useful, and
almost essential part, under existing circumstances, of our
educational system. The ordinary law of God s Provi
dence undoubtedly lays upon parents the responsibility of
bringing up children of tender years under their own eye ;
and to go against this law by transferring them to the
charge of a stranger is a dangerous approximation to the
SCHOOLS. 295
vicious principle of doing evil that good may come. But
there are so many artificial circumstances about the social
condition of a pushing and highly civilized age, that a
real justification may be found in practice for what is
objectionable according to a strict logical morality. Such
justification for infant schools, i. e. for taking infants
away from maternal care during about half the day, may
be found in the following facts, which I put down at length
as it may be convenient to some clergymen to satisfy
themselves and others on what grounds they break up the
domestic life of the poor to an extent which they would
not certainly dare to do in the case of their own families.
1. There is the melancholy but notorious fact that as
soon as infants are able to crawl about by themselves they
are too often neglected by their mothers ; left in the charge
of children scarcely older than themselves, or sent to
nurseries of a character very unsuitable to the wholesome
development of their childhood.
2. The mothers are frequently over-burdened with young
children and with domestic work, and need assistance in
some form, as much as other mothers who get it in the
shape of nurses and domestic servants.
3. Women of the labouring classes go out to work more
and more every year. It is much to be regretted that
they should do so, and sometimes it is quite true that
wives earn money only that husbands may be able to spend
more at the public-house. But the means which formerly
existed of contributing to the support of a family, such as
a woman might engage in at home, and yet attend to her
296 SCHOOLS.
children, are not now to be found; homespun garments
are no longer known, and where the wife used to make
the material with which her family was clothed she must
now go to the factory or the field to earn money with
which she may buy it at the shop. The necessity for
adding to the weekly earnings of the family is considered
to be much more pressing than the duty of attending to
her infant children : and, however much we may deplore
a mistaken course, we must not let the poor children go
wrong in consequence, if we can prevent the evil.
4. And, lastly, the early age at which boys and girls
are sent to work in some districts, makes it desirable to
get over the rudimentary part of their education as early
as possible, so as to make the most of the few years they
spend in the national school. If a child can be taught to
read in an infant school before six years of age, at least a
year is gained by the master of the upper school for bring
ing it forward in secular and religious knowledge.
The real use of infant schools is, in fact, to take very
young children away from evil influences if such exist in
their homes, to train them to those habits of obedience
and application which are necessary in the higher school,
and to teach those elementary beginnings of religious and
secular knowledge which can hardly be taught in a school
where children are learning at a much more advanced age.
Much of the teaching must necessarily be oral, especially
the religious teaching ; and it will require such patience,
and such perseverance in elementary routine as can only
be found in the feminine mind. Any one who has had to
SCHOOLS. 297
do with children of four to six years of age knows the
value of pictures as a means of arresting their attention,
and fixing their interest in any thing that is being told
them. Coloured pictures therefore should be made use of
as the Bible itself is used in the religious instruction of
children who can read 5 . And as young children learn
easiest that which is broken up by versification and the
"jingle " of rhyme, hymns should be used very freely as a
means of storing their little minds with good words and
devotional ideas; never omitting to give them an intel
ligent familiarity with that prayer of their Lord whose
comprehensive simplicity fits it for every period of life
from infancy to old age.
Very few clergymen will be able to do any thing in an
infant school which the mistress cannot do as well or
better. Encouraging and kindly words, and a general
supervision and control are almost all that will be required
of him. But if he is fortunate enough to possess such a
treasure as a good clergyman s wife, sister, or mother,
the visits of that lady to the infant school will be very
valuable, and to her he may delegate that portion of his
pastoral responsibilities with great advantage to the little
ones, and probably to the great relief of himself from an
embarrassing and puzzling duty. For a clergyman may
have the eloquence of a Chrysostom combined with the zeal
of a Gregory, and yet find himself utterly helpless in front
5 The life of our Lord, or other simple Scripture subjects painted in
divisions upon the upper half of school walls form a beautiful and useful
decoration. The skill of amateur artists might often be enlisted for such
work with great advantage to the little ones of Christ s flock.
298 SCHOOLS.
of fifty infants between three and six years of age, espe
cially if the dialect of the district is peculiar.
. Evening Schools.
The necessities of juvenile labour have led us to sup
plement our ordinary schools by the infant school, in the
hope of extending the period during which children
are under good training, by carrying it backward a year
or two towards infancy ; and the same reason has led to the
origination of night, or evening schools, in the hope of
extending it another year or two towards the adult period
of life, after working days have begun. Evening schools
are also much sought after by those who are desirous
of gaining some of the advantages of education in mature
life which they have missed acquiring in youth. They
are an object of consideration to the pastor for several
reasons. They bring together for some useful occupation
those who would otherwise be loitering idly about, or
perhaps wrongly employed ; they promote a taste for
spending the evenings in a more sensible manner than
is the received custom with working men ; and they bring
under his eye and influence many who would probably
otherwise be strangers to him. The class of young men,
(or young women, evening schools being often useful
for both,) who come within the sphere of this kind of
school will vary much, according to the locality in which
it is established. If good schools have been at work
for twenty or thirty years in a small parish, there will
be few young persons who cannot read and write and
cipher ; while, on the other hand, amidst a large and
SCHOOLS. 299
unmanageable population, there will always be numbers
who have been to school only (if at all) in their earliest
childhood, and have to get over the work of elementary
education after reaching the adult period of life.
Supposing, then, that by means of other parochial
machinery, a number of persons of various ages have
been persuaded to attend an evening school, the first thing
to do with them is to separate them into several classes
according to their attainments, and with reference to the
particular object each class has in view. Men of mature
years, who have to acquire the very elements of education,
ought to be formed into a class by themselves, as there
will be a natural aversion on their part to be placed be
side lads who have had greater advantages, and are,
perhaps, fresh from the schoolmaster s hand. Some,
again, can read and write well, and are well up in the
school arithmetic, but wish to go on further, and acquire
some knowledge of mathematics, and there may be no
other machinery for gratifying this laudable desire than
that which is used for teaching the elementary class.
It is manifest, therefore, that a considerable amount of
judgment is required in so arranging a mixed body of
persons of the kind indicated, that each may be pro
fiting by the teaching of the evening school, and neither
hindering, nor being hindered by, his neighbours.
If the clergyman is single-handed in a parish which
requires much visiting, it may be inexpedient for him
(however willing to spend and be spent) to break up
his time for study and other essential duties by personal
superintendence of an evening school. Sometimes the
300 SCHOOLS.
schoolmaster is able to take the hard work off his hands,
but if there are pupil- teach era to be taught at six A.M.,
and the wear and tear of a large day school to be en
dured, he cannot do so with justice to his more legitimate
duties, or to himself and his domestic life. Where there
are several clergy, or an assistant schoolmaster, it may be
more easily managed. But evening schools offer a field
for the co-operation of educated laymen in the work of
the Church; and to many, a few hours of the week so
employed, on two or more evenings, would prove far
from an unprofitable mode of spending their time and
their energies.
Looking at such auxiliaries of the ordinary educational
system of the parish from a pastoral rather than a strictly
educational point of view, their value must be considered
to consist in the opportunity for intercourse with an in
accessible class of his parishioners which they offer to the
clergyman ; and I do not know any way in which this
intercourse may be turned to better account than by a
short, clear lecture or reading, of about a quarter of an
hour, on some subject connected with religion, but not of
the kind which would incur the charge of " preaching ; "
a charge that would soon break up the school. Speciali
ties of the Bible, such as its geography, natural history,
the connexion of Scripture with profane history, an ac
count of what may be called its literary history, these
and a multitude of such subjects offer themselves, not
forgetting Church history, Ancient and Modern, which
may be taken in hand by the clergyman, or by a well-
educated layman under the clergyman s sanction, with
SCHOOLS. 301
great profit to the attendants at evening schools; and
with the many modern books which are accessible to the
educated classes, there ought to be no difficulty in " get
ting up " the information necessary, or in rendering it to
the uneducated in an intelligible and interesting form.
But this is really so important an object, that it is worth
some expenditure of labour ; when the result will be more
lasting and more useful, perhaps, than any other line of
education followed out in the schools of which I have
been speaking. Kitto s Cyclopaedia, or Smith s Dictionary
of the Bible, would suggest the substance of many such
lectures, and it need hardly be said that neither clergy
man nor layman need feel shame at any want of originality
as to materials.
. Sunday Schools.
In feeling our way to the adaptation of the Sunday-
school system to the system of the Church of England, so
much has been said and written that the subject of Sunday
schools has seemed to be one of a much less simple cha
racter, in respect both to theory and practical manage
ment, than it really is. The latter must necessarily vary
a good deal according to the nature of the parish and the
means of teaching at the clergyman s disposal on Sunday ;
but as to the former, it may be said, in a few words, that
the system of Sunday schools is one available for the two
objects of giving religious instruction to those children
who do not attend the day school, and of securing the
attendance of all at Divine service. When the system
was first originated, it was the practice to introduce secular
302 SCHOOLS.
instruction, but probably this practice never gained any
way in Church schools ; and certainly such instruction has
so much of the character of week-day labour as to be
thoroughly unfit for the day of rest.
The Sunday school is, to a certain extent, a substitute
for, or an adaptation of, the venerable catechetical system
of the Church ; and the lay teachers, who have by universal
consent been introduced as an almost essential part of the
Sunday school, may fairly be regarded as a modern version
of the ancient order of Catechist. "When the clergyman
takes any part in the school, he seldom exercises any direct
pastoral functions, but places himself on a level with the
teachers or catechists by taking one of the classes himself ;
and it seems to be generally considered that it is a better
arrangement to have a lay superintendent appointed by the
clergyman, than for the latter to act as such himself. The
pastor s ultimate authority over the school is fully acknow
ledged, but the practical working of it is looked upon as a
fair field for the work of laymen and laywomen in co
operating with him towards the religious training of the
young. This being so, the two objects to which the
pastor s attention should be directed for the purpose of
securing reality and soundness in such co-operation are
the obtaining of good teachers, and the uniform adoption
of such a mode of teaching as will work in with his own.
Sunday-school teachers should be selected, if possible,
from among the communicants, and not from the uncon
firmed young people, whose position is more properly that
of scholars. It is true that young people of fifteen or
sixteen years of age may be persuaded to come regularly
SCHOOLS. 303
to church by giving them classes in the Sunday school ;
and for a similar reason Dissenting Sunday schools are
often provided with nearly as many teachers as scholars.
But if solidity is sought, and not mere showiness, a good
solid kind of teacher must be provided, who has some
experience of religion, and is above being made vain by
the little brief authority annexed to the office. If too
young, the tendency of a Sunday-school teacher s work is
to deteriorate rather than to elevate their Christian life ;
to make them vain, self-reliant, and opinionative. But if
the work is religiously undertaken at a later and more
settled period of life, it may be of almost as much value to
the teacher as to the taught. Having secured such
teachers, and appointed one of them as superintendent,
who will be accounted generally responsible for the
management of the school, the clergyman must point out
to them the desirableness of establishing a mutual interest
between themselves and the scholars of their respective
classes, and lead them to feel some responsibility in respect
to their regular attendance at school and church. A kind
of discipline is thus established, and on a sound, Christian
foundation, which will probably do more than all forced
and artificial arrangements of rewards to secure good
Sunday habits on the part of the children.
The system of instruction pursued in the Sunday school
must necessarily be of the same character as the religious
instruction of a day school, the principal difference being
that there are more teachers to put it in practice. If the
scholars are principally those who come to school daily, it
is better to found the teaching on the Collect, Gospel, and
304 SCHOOLS.
Epistle of the week. If they are mostly children who
have had little religious instruction, the teaching should
be pointed more towards a methodical instruction in the
life of our Lord and the principles of the faith. Whatever
the nature of the teaching, it should be on a plan laid
down by the clergyman ; and he will either " teach his
teachers" by means of occasional meetings at the par
sonage, or will put into their hands some notes of lessons,
such as those issued by the National Society in their
Sunday-school papers.
"Where the hour of Divine service in the morning is
early, (and our eleven o clock morning prayer is surely too
late,) it may sometimes be desirable to have the more
important meeting of the Sunday school at a later time of
the day, using the half-hour or so before church-time in
the morning as a means of assembling the children, and
bringing them, into a quiet and reverent condition for
joining in Divine service.
. School Prayers.
BEFORE MORNING SCHOOL.
Lord, have mercy upon us.
Christ, have mercy upon us.
Lord, have mercy upon us.
Our Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy
Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth,
As it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread.
SCHOOLS. 305
And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive them that
trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation;
But deliver us from evil. For Thine is the Kingdom,
The power and the glory, For ever and ever. Amen.
Lord, open Thou our lips.
And our mouth shall show forth Thy praise.
God, make speed to save us.
Lord, make haste to help us.
Psalm xix.
The Apostles Creed.
The Suffrages.
The Collect for the Day.
The third Collect, for Grace.
Prevent us, Lord, in all our doings with Thy most
gracious favour, and further us with Thy continual help ;
that in all our works begun, continued, and ended in Thee,
we may glorify Thy holy Name, and finally by Thy mercy
obtain everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
AFTER MORNING SCHOOL.
" Lord and Father, bless, we pray,
And guard Thy children day by day ;
Keep us for ever in Thy fear,
And make us feel that Thou art near.
306 SCHOOLS.
" At home, abroad ; at play, at school,
Let love our hasty tempers rule ;
Keep hand and tongue from evil free,
Check d by Thy grace and thought of Thee."
BEFORE AFTERNOON SCHOOL.
" Lord, to us Thy grace impart,
With lowly mind and cheerful heart,
To learn our daily task, and try
Thy name in all to glorify.
" Father, make Thy children know,
Tis Thou from whom all blessings flow ;
To Thee our grateful voice we raise,
Thee we adore, and love, and praise."
AFTER AFTERNOON SCHOOL.
As in the morning, until the Psalm, when Psalm 103 is
to be used.
The Apostles Creed.
The Suffrages.
The Collect for the Day.
The second Collect at Evening Prayer.
The third Collect, for Aid against all Perils.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of
God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with us all
evermore.
CHAPTER X.
PAROCHIAL LAY CO-OPERATION.
A PASTORAL system in which no room existed for the action
of lay members of the Church as supplementary, or com
plementary, to the action of the clergy, would be incon
sistent with the principle of unity which runs through
every part of the system of Christianity, and would also
be unsuited to the necessities of at least the present gene
ration. The doctrine of the Communion of Saints excludes
the right of any one to say, "Am I my brother s keeper ?"
and imposes upon all the duty of exercising an active
fellowship with Christ s brethren in works as well as in
feelings of Christian charity towards them. Nor is it in
this alone that we find a law of lay co-operation. As the
foundation of pastoral work on the part of the clergy is
their priesthood, so an analogous foundation is laid in that
"royal priesthood" whereof all are partakers who are
called out of darkness into God s marvellous light ; and on
this foundation is built the true theory of all lay Church
work, whether in the worship of God s house, or in works
of love among His children.
It must be confessed that the laity of the Church of
x 2
308 PAROCHIAL LAY CO-OPERATION.
England have not been encouraged to exercise the privi
leges and duties of this " royal priesthood " to the extent
that they ought to exercise them ; and that the result has
been so sharply denned a separation of them from pastoral
work as a participation with the clergy in the labours of
the Good Shepherd, that necessity has sometimes arisen
even for showing that the clergy alone do not constitute
the Church, but the whole body of Christian people.
Complaints have been frequently heard that there is very
little occupation given to our laity in the management of
Church matters by their parochial clergy, although those
clergy are often overburdened with work; and that in
consequence there is little of that esprit de corps among the
former which is so conspicuous in the case of Dissenters ;
little of that higher unity which has its origin in the bond
created by common personal participation in works of
charity.
There are, in reality, many laymen actually engaged in
official duties connected with Church work, as, for example,
some thirty thousand churchwardens, and probably about
the same number of schoolmasters and pupil-teachers of
various ages, but these form a very small proportion in
comparison with the vast numbers of the laity ; and few
others contribute any thing towards the work of the Church
except in the form of subscription to funds which are
administered, for the most part, by the clergy. And it is
rather sad to observe that the more notable lay workers in
times gone by have been men and women like Howard
and Mrs. Fry, out of communion with the Church, or like
Hannah More and Wilberforce, working independently of
PAROCHIAL LAY CO-OPERATION. 309
the Church, though belonging to its communion. In the
present day there is a strong desire on the part of the
laity to take their proper share in the good works which
are being carried on by the Church of England. The
revived diligence of the clergy has led to a corresponding
revival on the part of their lay brethren, and the question
which presents itself to the pastor now is often rather how
he shall employ willing hearts and hands than where he
shall find them l .
The administration of what may be called
the secular phase of pastoral work is clearly a
kind of business that might very well be put Churcn -
wardens.
into the hands of his lay parishioners by the
1 These words were hardly written when the following passage appeared
in a " Times " leader on the subject of Church Extension : " There are on
all sides men who want to assist the Church by their personal services, and
still more to see their sons and daughters employed, as all good books tell
us they ought to employ part of their time, in visiting the sick and dis
tressed and teaching the ignorant. The hearts of tens of thousands of
parents will respond to these words. What would they give to see their
young people employed in good works, instead of doing any thing to pass
the time and get up a faint interest ? But good works, whether in the
Bible, or the Papist, or the Puritan, or the old Church-of- England sense,
are daily more impossible, and practically all but forbidden. And what is
the substitute ? The incessant collector, with his card of charities, his ink-
bottle, his steel pen, and his receipt book, demanding money to be paid to
institutions and hirelings to do the things which Christians ought to do
themselves, ought to be allowed to do, ought to be invited to do." Times,
May 5, 1863.
It is alleged that the clergy are often jealous of any co-operation on the
part of the laity in work for which the latter are competent, and that
there is an extravagant dread of interference. Such feelings, perhaps, have
their foundation in a just apprehension of clanger from the introduction of
an untried system. But the advantages to be gained are greater than the
danger incurred.
310 PAROCHIAL LAY CO-OPERATION.
clergyman with advantage to himself and them. The
intention of the Church system, with respect to this, may
be seen in the office of churchwarden, and it will be well
if the clergyman who desires to organize a system of lay
co-operation in his parish can begin by securing persons
to fill that office who will learn, and act upon, the theory
of the Church respecting it. The laymen appointed to
this office are the custodes of the fabric of the parish
church, and of all that it contains. To quote what I
have said elsewhere : " It is the duty of the clergyman to
offer Divine worship to God on behalf of the parishioners :
it is the duty of the churchwarden to provide and take
care of whatever is necessary and proper for that worship.
And as both of these are rendering their services for the
benefit of the parishioners at large, it is the duty of the
latter to provide such means as may enable them to carry
out the intention of the Church s system.
" In time of Divine service, the whole responsibility of
keeping order among the congregation legally devolves
upon the churchwardens : and they have power to turn
any one out of the church, whether parishioner or not,
who is disturbing the service, or grossly misbehaving
himself.
" When the clergyman of the parish dies, it is the church
wardens who are responsible for securing that the vacancy
is temporarily supplied, until the bishop or the patron
steps in and provides for it permanently.
" And how far they are theoretically intended to take
5 Oxford Parochial Magazine, April, 1861.
PAROCHIAL LAY CO-OPERATION. 311
part in the care of the poor, is shown by their ex officio
position as overseers, and by their obligation to assist the
clergyman in the distribution of alms 3 .
"But, perhaps, the real Church importance of these
Church officers is shown as much in the power given to
them of presenting to the bishop the clergyman, or any
one else, when they suppose them to be transgressing the
laws of morality and the Church. This is a power which
might lead to very important results if it was to be con
scientiously exercised by all the churchwardens of the
land ; and although a sudden resuscitation of this dormant
power is certainly not to be desired, yet there is plainly an
element of much good in the faithful answering of the
papers of inquiry annually sent to the churchwarden ;
which contain such questions as the following :
" 1. Is your minister of sober life and conversation ?
"2. Does he use such decency and distinction of habit
as becomes his sacred profession ?
3 It is worth calling attention, in a note, to the distributions of Parochial
Bequests by the minister and churchwardens. Many of these bequests
have been intended by the testators to be useful in promoting the spiritual
work of the parish ; e. g. one which I remember, dating from the Re
formation, of an annual sum of money to those poor men and women who
should most regularly attend the daily service of their parish church ; and
many of bread and money to those who shall be most constant at Divine
service on Sunday. Such funds have been known to be distributed among
those who never made their appearance in church, except on St. Thomas s
day, or whatever the time might be for receiving the charity. This is un
just to the testator, unjust to the Church poor, and is defrauding the Church
of a means by which a few old people might be drawn within the sound of
her teaching, and perhaps drawn from a low ground of frequenting Church
to a much higher one. If some who come to scoff stay to pray, it may be
that some who come to get alms may stay to get grace.
312 PAROCHIAL LAY CO-OPERATION.
" 3. At what hours does he celebrate Divine service iii
your parish church ?
" 4. Does he read Divine service, properly habited, re
verently, distinctly, and audibly, as prescribed by the
Book of Common Prayer, without additions, diminutions,
or alterations ?
"5. Is the Sacrament of Baptism administered in your
Church (except in cases of necessity) and during the time
of Divine service ?
"6. Are those who are privately baptized, afterwards
publicly received into the Church ?
" 7. How often is the Sacrament of the Lord s Supper
administered ?
" 8. What is the average number of communicants, as
far as you can judge ?
" 9. How often does your minister preach ?
" 10. Does he publicly instruct and examine the chil
dren in the Church Catechism; where, and at what
times ?
"11. Does he duly prepare the children for Confir
mation ?
" 12. Does he visit the sick regularly and diligently ?"
A large amount of benefit might result to the Church,
and many scandals might be prevented or cured, if those
of whom these inquiries are made would fearlessly and
honestly give real answers to them, such as would put the
bishop and his officers in possession of sound information
given by responsible persons. I happen to know a case
at a recent Visitation, in which such a return imme
diately attracted the attention of the bishop s deputy, and
PAROCHIAL LAY CO-OPEEATION. 313
he expressed his strong approval of it. And it cannot be
doubted, that if these important representatives of the
laity were to act up to the theory of their office in a
practical manner, the whole Church would derive benefit
from their so doing. Let the thirty thousand church
wardens co-operate with the twenty-eight bishops, and
the twenty thousand clergy, and a long step will be made
towards attaining the lay co-operation of which I am
speaking.
And, endeavouring to develope among the
. . . Laymen s
laity of his parish in general that interest in work in
the practical work of their Church which is ft^Tfoif
imposed, so to speak, on the churchwarden, a P ar chial
* purposes.
large field might be pointed out in busy
parishes where their operations would relieve the pastor
from much anxiety, responsibility, and toil. A clever
paper on the subject was read by Mr. Pearson (a member
of the bar) and afterwards published, in connexion with
the "Clerical and Lay Union," a London Society ori
ginated, in 1856, for the purpose of effecting some of the
objects I am advocating, in which it was vividly pointed
out how much of the modern clergyman s time and
energy is taken up with "begging" for Church pur
poses.
"One of the greatest evils of society in the present
day is begging; and the greatest of all beggars is the
parish clergyman. He is a mendicant virtute officii: a
constant, needy, importunate mendicant. He begs at all
times, and in a variety of ways, and for all kinds of
objects. Now by a sermon from the pulpit; now by a
314 PAROCHIAL LAY CO-OPERATION.
private letter ; then by a circular, followed by a meeting,
or perhaps a bazaar, or perhaps the publication of a volume
of sermons. You light upon him in the street, and he
accosts you, and tells you he was on his way to your house
with the subscription list to the new school, in the cer
tainty that you would add your name. You meet him
at dinner, and he tells you that he has just learned that
the poor fund is exhausted, and has a letter from the
treasurer in his pocket, which he begs you to read.
Churches, Schools, Reading-rooms, Infirmaries, Clothing-
clubs, Savings Banks, Missionary Societies, all are under
his patronage, all are supported by his persevering soli
citations. He must find out what his parish requires ;
consider how the deficiencies ought to be supplied ; obtain
plans ; reject this one because it is unsuitable, and that
one because it is too costly ; furnish a statement of the
expense of supplying a need which ought never to have
existed, and arguments to excuse himself for doing that
which not one who has been resident in the parish has
thought of attempting ; and lastly, he must beg from
street to street, from house to house, from rich and poor,
from strangers in the neighbourhood, from relatives and
friends at a distance, in order that something may be
done which every body in the parish admits ought to be
done, and to be done by themselves V
No doubt much of the labour here indicated might be
undertaken by laymen ; and if undertaken by them under
the leadership of the clergyman, there is no reason why
4 The Duty of Laymen in the Church of England. London : Bell and
Daldy.
PAROCHIAL LAY CO-OPERATION. 315
the works to be effected should not be done at least as well,
as when he alone is responsible for their details as well as
for their general origination. The notion that this kind
of labour is part of the burden properly belonging to the
clerical office is a great mistake, but one which we may
hope to see corrected in the minds of many, as we attain
to a better appreciation of the position occupied by the
Church of England in the midst of a thickening popu
lation, and a busy age. ,
And, as laymen might thus effectually
strengthen the hands of their clergy by work- ^yjnen s
ing the machinery which gathers the funds for managing
. . . T . and dis-
their many parochial necessities, so I conceive tributing
they should be employed far more than they c
are in the distribution of those funds. The
management of benefit societies, parochial savings banks,
Church funds of various kinds, and of school accounts,
might fairly be taken in hand by men of business, and it
is very likely that their management might establish a
personal interest in them which would lead to a far greater
development of financial resources than these and kindred
institutions would reach in the hands of the clergy, who
mostly have to provide a balance out of tfceir own pockets
to keep things square. In such work it is possible that
the clergyman may so interest some of his parishioners,
that he can lead them on to a still higher appreciation
of the duty under which they lie to help him in the
many works of charity in which he is engaged, and to
a development of their true position as Christian laymen.
316 PAROCHIAL LAY CO-OPERATION.
Very useful towards such an end will it be to
and espe- .,,....
dally alms engage laymen m the distribution of alms to the
to the poor. poor i n the offering of their alms to God they
exercise their love to Him ; in their distribution of them
they would be exercising their love to man, and making
the work of charity a twofold blessing to themselves 5 .
The occasional sight that they would thus gain of scenes
familiar enough to the clergy and the medical man, but
little known to the laity at large, would in itself arouse
feelings of sympathy with the poor, which few of them
are likely to have opportunities for attaining unless pro
vided for them in some such manner. In such cases, we
should carefully avoid running into the error of making
the lay visitor a substitute for the clergyman in his
clerical capacity. The distribution of alms might, indeed,
often pave the way for the clergyman, by kind consoling
words and personal services which teach the afflicted to
love the Church and welcome its ministers ; but it should
be a rule that no word should ever be spoken intention
ally, or carelessly, and no deed ever done, which should
mislead the poor in this particular.
5 I have said nothing about the offertory as a means of increasing the
funds available for Church purposes, because I do not feel so confident of
its permanent value for that purpose as some of its advocates do. \\1iere it
is so successful, however, as to provide more than a mere dole for the poor,
it is very desirable that some of the laity should be associated with the
clergyman in dispensing it, that the accounts should be audited by them,
and a statement of the manner in which it has been applied published
annually. Whatever respect the laity may feel for the clergy, only exact
and open accounts of money will give thorough confidence.
PAROCHIAL LAY CO-OPERATION. 317
Not indeed that this lay visitation of the
poor need be entirely confined to the distri- Unpaid
bution of alms. Paid Scripture Readers have Readers
been so extensively introduced as to prove that
they have been found useful in assisting the parochial
clergy. There seems to be a still higher advantage before
us, if we can avail ourselves of it, in the gratuitous services
of a higher class of laymen than Scripture Readers are
taken from, who should carry their educational advantages
among the poor as the clergy do, and draw the uneducated
to an intelligent apprehension of the Scriptures read.
Well-informed Churchmen might thus, under the guidance
of the clergyman, help much to counteract the poison of
unbelief and scepticism which is spreading so fearfully in
large towns, doing by word of mouth what we endeavour
to do, but with such imperfect success, by the circulation
of tracts. It would not be so easy for the layman to
obtain access to many of the class of people aimed at as
for the clergyman, who is received at the worst with a
sullen silence ; but educated men of a high standing in
social life have often a happy tact in dealing with the
lower classes ; and they would have this advantage over
the clergyman, that they could more freely use the secular
circumstances of life as a lever for wrenching open the
unwilling door for the admission of Christian subjects of
conversation.
For such work, it is of course necessary that the clergy
man should seek the help only of those who can be
thoroughly depended on for pious intentions, intelligent
knowledge of the principles of religion, and good judg-
318 PAROCHIAL LAY CO-OPERATION.
ment as well as zeal. They should also have a clear
understanding of the extent to which a layman may go
in taking such a share in pastoral work, and of the limits
beyond which he ought not to go. The first five rules
which are laid down for the guidance and restraint of
Scripture Headers by the Society which employs them are
an example of the kind of regulations to which the more
highly educated lay visitor should also submit himself;
and perhaps it should be added to them, that he should
use prayer but seldom in his visits, rather pointing out to
the clergyman the cases in which he considers it to be
needed, than offering it himself.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR SCRIPTURE READERS.
" 1. You are to visit in your district from house to house,
for the purpose of reading the Scriptures to the poor,
accompanying such reading with plain remarks, pointing
their attention to the Saviour of whom they testify.
"2. Remember that your principal object must be, to
call attention to the Scriptures, strongly urging, upon their
authority, the sin of neglecting them, setting them forth
as the only infallible rule of faith and practice, as able to
make men wise unto salvation, through faith which is in
Christ Jesus.
" 3. You are strictly prohibited from carrying about
with you, for the purpose of reading to the people, or of
distributing among them, any book or publication but the
Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, and the Book
of Common Prayer; taking care to avoid, as much as
possible, all controversy.
PAROCHIAL LAY CO-OPERATION. 319
" 4. You are strictly prohibited from PREACHING, either
in houses or elsewhere.
"5. Urge upon all persons you visit, the duty of attend
ing the public worship of God in the church ; inculcate
upon parents the duty of training up their children in the
way they should go, and of procuring for them week-day
and Sunday-school instruction. In any particular case
which seems to call for the visit of the parochial clergy
man, report it forthwith to him."
In addition to that already indicated, a variety of other
work would present itself to the attention of the clergy
and laity as adapted for the latter, if the consideration,
What shall laymen do ? has actually arisen as a practical
question. There is the church choir, for example, to be
kept up, the evening school to be taught, work to be done
in looking after lads that have left school for the mill or
the field, and influence to be exercised for good among
adult working men.
There are few parishes in which a larger
number of men might not be interested than at Church
singing.
present in church singing, and in choral societies
which look ultimately towards its maintenance and im
provement. The taste for good singing has developed so
much since Mr. Hullah began to make singing classes
popular, that there is now no excuse for the absence of it
in the service of God. Choral services have also been
made very popular, and have lost the distinctively party
character which was unfortunately supposed to belong to
them when they began to be used in parish churches .
6 Mercer s " Musically-noted Prayer Book and Psalter " has helped much
towards this desirable end.
320
PAROCHIAL LAY CO-OPERATION.
To whatever extent singing may be adopted in Divine
service, it is most desirable that it should be the best that
circumstances will permit, and that as many as possible of
the congregation should be able to join in it. For this
purpose the laity of the parish should be induced to give
their personal services and their money contributions, and
as large a number as can be should be enlisted either as
actual or as honorary members of the church choir. I
have before me at this moment an annual report of St.
James s Volunteer Choir, Bury St. Edmunds, from which
it appears that it consisted in 1857 of eighteen "choir
members " and forty-seven " honorary members," two of
the latter being ladies. The choir members had subscribed
4/. 7s. Qd., and the honorary members 14/. 8*. Qd. in the
course of the year ; a Parish Festival Committee had
contributed 10/., and had thus made up sufficient to
pay 57. 5s. for a musical director, QL 9s. for the ex
penses of a concert, and about 16/. for music, gas, book
binding, copying, and sundry expenses. A further sum
of 201. 11s. Qd. had also been collected (in lieu of the
old system of collecting Christmas-boxes) for the singing
boys fund, the number of the boys not being stated in the
report, but probably bringing up the total of the Volunteer
Choir to nearly a hundred ; and this in a parish where the
population only reaches 3300. In the adjoining county
of Cambridge there is a village of about 1200 people, all
of the small fanner and labouring classes, where the staff
of singers for the Sunday services amounts regularly to
fifty in number, consisting chiefly of young men and
women, none of whom are paid. The choral service has
been maintained by a succession of such singers for about
PAROCHIAL LAY CO-OPERATION. 321
sixteen years, the clergyman of the parish working single-
handed. I cannot undertake to say how many have passed
through the training which this implies, but I should
think the number would not fall short of two hundred.
In both these cases, which I have used as apt illustra
tions of the same thing in town and country, two advan
tages may be at once observed. First, the praises of God
are sung as they ought to be ; and secondly, a large
number of persons are permanently interested in the
service of the church. Of the town choir spoken of I
have no personal knowledge, but of the other I can say
that it has been the means of bringing about much inter
course between the clergyman and the younger members
of his flock ; and that he has been able to exercise a
certain influence, and even discipline, by means of the
organization in question, which would otherwise have
been impossible 7 . And I have no doubt whatever that
the experience of one such clergyman is the experi
ence of hundreds, so far as respects the advantage in a
pastoral sense, of interesting a large body of persons in
the singing of Divine service. I need hardly point out
that the educated laity might make themselves very useful
indeed in such work, by leavening the body of singers
with voices of a more refined order, by accompanying the
singers in their practice, and even by conducting that
practice where the clergyman required assistance or a
" I may add, that it is well to encourage such a body of singers in singing
glees and other secular music of good character. It is surprising how com
pletely such singing will banish the ribald songs that are current among the
labouring classes.
Y
322 PAROCHIAL LAY CO-OPERATION.
substitute. I have some acquaintance with a Bedford
shire parish in which the squire is both organist and choir
trainer, and is to be found as regularly at his post as an
ordinary paid professional. Much of such lay materiel lies
ready to the hand of the parochial clergyman, and he will
act wisely by endeavouring to mould it into use for God s
service.
I have already, in the last chapter, mentioned
Evening evening schools as a fair field for the labours of
ocnools and
Lectures. the laity ; and they are so evidently such, that
words are not needed to urge the point. I will
only add to what is there said on the subject of the short
lecture which was recommended, that whether in an
evening school or elsewhere, such lectures and readings
would certainly prove of great interest to the working
classes when undertaken by educated laymen, and that
much beneficial knowledge might be thus conveyed to
them. By thus presenting themselves to the working
classes, gentlemen of fortune or employers might gain an
introduction to them for still higher purposes, and would
assuredly establish a better feeling of unity Christian
unity between the lower classes arid the upper than
sometimes exists in either 8 .
. Women and their Work.
The most available form of lay help which the clergy
man will find at his disposal is that offered by ladies of
8 Mr. Longman, the publisher, has given very excellent lectures of this
kind, the subject being English history.
PAROCHIAL LAY CO-OPERATION. 323
the higher middle classes, many of whom do, and many
more wish to, devote themselves altogether to works of
charity.
Much more has been written on the subject of feminine
agency in parochial work than on the co-operation of
laymen with their clergyman ; and an extraordinary in
terest was excited in it by the noble conduct of those
ladies who with Miss Nightingale nursed our soldiers so
effectively, when sickness and wounds had prostrated such
unexpected numbers in the Crimean war. It is also felt
that there are far more ladies of the class I have named
who are at leisure to devote themselves to good works of
this kind than there are men of any class ; and that many
of them would gladly fly to them as a relief from com
pulsory idleness, or from occupations of a trivial character
which are scarcely better than idleness.
But, although this abundance of material
thus offers itself, I do not think that we are the clergy,
right in immediately concluding that it is all
of a character for the clergy to avail themselves of.
Many ladies of the class I have mentioned have much
" time on their hands," which they propose to devote to
works of charity, only because the time is not taken off
their hands by works of duty ; and it may be questioned
whether there really ought to be so many ladies able to
say that they can give up their time for visiting the poor.
A lady who has taken much practical interest in the
training of young women, speaking of several causes which
prevent the formation of domestic habits among them in
the lower classes, adds, " In the higher classes, luxury,
Y 2
324 PAROCHIAL LAY CO-OPERATION.
the affectation of superiority to domestic employments, and
the preference for public over private and obscure duties
which characterize our age, are no less fatal to the cul
tivation of the homely but venerable accomplishments
which distinguished those illustrious ladies of former
times, who governed their households with calm vigilance
and intelligent authority. The notion that these accom
plishments are inconsistent with high mental culture,
refined taste or feminine grace, is altogether false. The
conduct of a household, with order and economy, makes
large demands on the reason and on the faculties of ob
servation and discernment, and leaves these faculties
strengthened for their application to purely intellectual
objects. The conduct of a household with grace and
dignity makes large demands on the sense of fitness,
harmony, and beauty, and ripens that sense for exercise
on purely rcsthetical objects We hear much lamenta
tion over the decline of filial obedience and reverence.
Let it be remembered, that the woman whose children
rise up and call her blessed, whose husband s heart doth
safely trust in her, is she who looketh well to the ways
of her household, who worketh willingly with her hands,
and who employs her great faculties and noble sentiments,
strength, wisdom, charity, and kindness, in the
service and guidance of those whom God has committed
to her charge. Many daughters have done virtuously,
but thou excellest them all V I have quoted this elo-
9 " Two Letters on Girls Schools," &c., by Mrs. Austin, printed by
Woodfall and Kinder, London, 1857. These letters are marked "Private"
on the title-page; but as they appeared originally in the "Athenaeum," I
have no scruple in quoting from them.
PAROCHIAL LAY CO-OPERATION. 325
quent passage for the purpose of strengthening and sup
porting my own words of warning to the parochial clergy
man, that he should be very careful at the outset of all
plans for feminine parish work, (whether many ladies are
concerned or only one,) to assure himself that he is justi
fied in allowing that work to be undertaken by those who
wish to engage in it. It may be that there are home
duties overlooked or neglected, the proper fulfilment of
which would leave little time for visiting the sick and the
poor, teaching in the parish schools, or other work of a
like character. The pastor may be doing a more real
service to God, to his parish, and to society, by persuading
ladies to look searchingly for these home duties, and to
fulfil them faithfully, than by accepting their assistance in
forwarding the objects of his own pastoral work among
the poor 1 . It is his office to point out this faithful fulfil-
1 It is not unnatural that married and unmarried ladies should view the
domestic duties of life differently , but I think the fact of their doing so,
(showing so strongly as it does that the knowledge of woman s home duties
only comes after marriage,) is itself an argument in favour of more attention
to them, and training in them in earlier life. In connexion with Mrs. Austin s
opinion I place this of Miss Nightingale s : " The want of necessary occu
pation among English girls must have struck every one. How usual it is
to see families, five or six daughters at home, with no other occupation in
life than a class in a Sunday school ; and what is that a chapter of the
Bible is opened at random, and the spiritual doctor, with no more idea of
her patient s malady than she has plans for improving it, explains at
random. In the middle classes how many there are who feel themselves
burdensome to their fathers or brothers ; but who, not finding husbands,
and not having the education to be governesses, do not know what to do
with themselves If, then, there are many who live unmarried, and
many more who pass the third of the usual term of life unmarried, and if
intellectual occupation is not meant to be their end in life, what are they
to do with that thirst for action, useful action, which every woman feels
326 PAROCHIAL LAY CO-OPERATION.
ment of their own distinctive duties to all classes, and he
should certainly be the last person in his parish willingly
to sanction their neglect. It is his office also to point out
that true Christian elevation is to be attained by the rich
as well as the poor, through doing their duty in that state
of life to which God has called them ; and that no ultimate
good can come by " woman s work," if the poor are only
improved through the deterioration of a higher class of
society by the withdrawal of that " woman s work " from
its normal position.
However great facilities may offer themselves to him,
then, for the employment of ladies in parochial work ; and
however great good may seem to be in prospect from their
engaging in it, do not let the pastor be tempted to take on
himself the responsibility of accepting one individual
helper without a careful consideration of that particular
person s position at home, or without referring her to the
home duties providentially imposed upon women, in some
thing of the tone of warning I have thus indicated 2 .
But, having used such precautions, let the pastor endea-
who is not diseased in mind or body ?" But surely this restless " thirst for
action " is not the natural characteristic of all good women !
2 Nor is it unnecessary, (I am sorry to say,) to add that parents have a
right to be consulted in every case, before their unmarried daughters are
permitted to undertake any thing like parochial visiting ; and that no good
can come from its being Vvilfully undertaken in opposition to their wishes.
The consent of husbands, in a like case, seems too much a matter of mere
propriety to need urging. Clergymen have not unfrequently alienated heads
of families by allowing their zeal to outrun their discretion in this matter ;
and indeed, to outrun their duty. No work can be acceptable to God which
is built on so bad a foundation as the disregard of a law so prominent as
that of parental authority and filial obedience.
PAROCHIAL LAY CO-OPERATION. 327
vour to avail himself to the full extent of those services
which the devotional and affectionate instincts of woman s
nature place so readily at the disposal of the Church. As
lay help in general will strengthen his hands in dealing
with his parishioners, so will he find special advantages in
the assistance of feminine helpers in many branches of his
pastoral work.
One of the most useful employments which
ladies can undertake in a parish is that of ^f^oo!
working in the parish school, and it will be an
excellent thing if the clergyman can so arrange as to have
one or more (according to the size of the school) present
continually. This is a kind of employment which falls in
with the home responsibilities of which I have been endea
vouring to show the importance, almost better than any
other. No teacher can impart the beginnings of know
ledge to a child so effectively as a good mother ; and no
impressions remain so permanently fixed upon the mind of
after-childhood, or even of mature years, as those which
are made by her. But it is very probable that these good
impressions are not made so commonly as they might be
simply from the fact that the natural instinct of the
feminine mind, the maternal instinct, has been rendered
comparatively inactive, and remained wholly untutored,
through want of experience in dealing with children.
Hence the children of the class from which I am supposing
parochial helpers to be chiefly provided are too often
turned over to " nursery governesses," as to persons better
qualified than the mothers themselves to undertake the
task of training those early years which God s providence
328 PAROCHIAL LAY CO-OPEltATlOX.
has especially committed to the latter. It may, therefore,
form a very important element in their own training, for
young ladies to become teachers in the school, under the
eye of the regular teacher and the clergyman ; since they
will be learning that discipline of temper, and that habit of
teaching which may be of solid service to themselves and
their children in after life.
But, I do not, of course, mean that this is the only, or
even the principal value which such voluntary teaching
possesses. To the school itself it is valuable also by adding
to the staff of teachers, and enabling the system of educa
tion to assume a more individual character than it often
does. Every one knows the saying about dashing water
over narrow-necked bottles and pouring it into each neck
separately ; and every one knows how we have endeavoured
to multiply teachers by the monitorial and the pupil-
teacher systems. It appears to me that teachers might be
far more multiplied than they have ever yet been with
great advantage, and that a voluntary staff of teachers
should form an auxiliary part of every parish school.
But this is more especially necessary in respect to the
younger children ; and it is with them that ladies would often
find themselves most at home and most successful. You
can teach geography, or arithmetic, or writing to a large
class of elder children as well as to a small one ; but each
little one who has to be taught reading must be gently
and patiently handled by itself, and treated as a very
narrow-necked bottle indeed. The same may also be said
of religious teaching, the smaller children gaining but
little from the instruction given to the school generally by
PAROCHIAL LAY CO-OPERATION. 329
the master and the clergyman, and the habits of thought
of the latter being of a kind that, to a certain extent,
unfit them for communicating religious knowledge to
little folks whose understandings are scarcely fledged, and
whose answers to a catechetical lesson have to be drawn
out of them with much patient repetition and labour.
Of course it is essential that lady-teachers should con
form strictly to the rules of the schools to which they give
their services. The clergyman s permission given, and his
general control acknowledged, every lady so engaged must
put herself in a position strictly subordinate to the master
or mistress of the school, and can only assume authority
over pupil- teachers by delegation from them 3 . It is very
desirable that the authority of the principal teacher should
not be in any way lessened by the introduction of volun
teers, and therefore every lady should submit to take up
her position under them in the school, whatever their
respective positions may be out of it, with as good a grace
as Charles I. showed when he acceded to Dr. Busby s
covered head as he walked among the Westminster boys.
It will also be necessary, because the principal teacher s
position in respect to volunteer teachers is rather a diffi
cult one, and there may be a want of tact to settle down
to its requirements which the volunteer can silently
supply ; the latter being probably better trained to self-
possession and adaptation to circumstances. In time, if
the lady-teacher is regular in her attendance at the time
when she has agreed to attend, exact in fulfilling the
3 This should he clearly understood, as, of course, awkward difficulties
might arise from interference with pupil -teachers.
330 PAROCHIAL LAY CO- OPERATION.
school duties she has undertaken, and careful to use a
homely phrase in " minding her own business," she
will find herself welcome to teachers and children too,
an efficient helper in an important Church work, the
beloved and respected leader of many little Christian
brothers and sisters into the paths of knowledge and
righteousness.
I have said that the lady-teacher will pro-
Evening bably find herself most at home and most suc-
classes. *
cessfulwith the younger children in the school,
because the imparting of knowledge to elder children is a
work best done by those who have had a special training
for that purpose, whereas the teaching of little ones is a
natural gift of womanhood which no training-school edu
cation could supply. But at the same time, ladies may
make themselves extremely useful in a parish by taking
evening classes at their own houses, admitting to them
girls only, and of them only those whose occupations
prevent them from going to the day school. Sometimes
these will require very elementary teaching, but, of course,
others will already have stayed out their full time at the
daily school. In any case, however, good reading by the
lady-teacher or the girls, or by both in turns, (of a re
ligious tendency,) will be highly beneficial ; and scarcely
less so the insensible refinement which grows upon young
girls when they are thus brought into contact with one
of their own sex at her own home. In respect to such
classes the clergyman will be ready to advise, and to
assist if in any way his help is really needed ; but he will
find it best to abstain from assuming any authority over
PAROCHIAL LAY CO-OPERATION. 331
them, regarding them rather as a domestic than an edu
cational auxiliary to his pastoral work 4 . It is a quiet,
unostentatious auxiliary, but one calculated to strengthen
good principles in young girls at a critical period of their
youth, and to give them much aid in their endeavours to
keep hold of the good they have learned at school ; and
therefore to be much respected by the clergyman. Such
an evening class may, by the grace of God be a happy
preventive, where a penitentiary, at a future day, could
only offer a cure with bitter tears.
It appears to me that, as a rule, and espe
cially in towns, where the poor are not so well
known as in villages, the educational work
which I have sketched out above is better suited for
young ladies than district visiting. There are many
roughnesses and impurities connected with the life of the
poor wherever they are crowded together, (of which none
are more conscious than some of the very persons who
live in the midst of them,) and I certainly hold the
opinion that a father or mother acts most wisely in de
clining to allow a young daughter to come in contact
with them except in case of necessity. In country villages
the case is often altogether different, it being possible
there for a lady to visit many cottages without being
brought face to face with gross and ostentatious wicked
ness.
4 The " Two Letters," from which I before quoted, mention a case of a
lady who taught young women self-respect, and brought them under good
influences, by getting them together of an evening for the purpose of
mending their clothes.
332 PAROCHIAL LAY CO-OPERATION.
But ladies of a mature age, who have lived long enough
to gain some knowledge of the world, who are either
widows, or married, or have arrived at a time of life when
marriage is improbable, may be considered suitable for
district visitors 5 under most circumstances ; although I
doubt whether the clergyman should encourage any to
visit in the worst kind of streets and lanes, unless they
are really devoting themselves permanently to working
among the poor, and have given some proof that they
are persons well fitted for such duties 6 .
It is not my object here to write a guide for district
visitors themselves, or it might be necessary to extend my
remarks to a much greater length than they will occupy ;
but only to point out to the clergyman the manner in
which he may best bring such helpers into co- operation
with himself, so that they may work together in drawing
souls to Christ.
(1) It seems to be of great importance that
Clerical the kind of work undertaken by lady visitors,
supervision
of visitors, so far as it is a specially religious work, should
be undertaken by them with the express
sanction of the clergyman, and that the unity which such
workers naturally crave after should be found in the
work as a parish or Church work, and not in any private
s It seems to have been assumed that " District Visitor " is the name of
an office belonging to ladies alone. I prefer the newer title of Parochial
Visitor, which has not yet been so restricted.
* In such cases and places a distinctive dress, such sis Mrs. Fry wore
as a Quakeress, or such as is worn by Sisters of Mercy, is very effective
towards ensuring a respectful reception, the suppression of oaths in the
presence of its wearer, and general freedom from insult.
PAROCHIAL LAY CO-OPERATION. 333
society. The ladies should be visitors sent by the Church,
and not sent by a district visiting association. It is only
by keeping this principle in view that the permanency so
much to be desired is to be given to the best efforts of
ladies in religious work among the poor. The separate
"association" has in it an element of schism; and the
work of its members, however good and well-meaning
they may be, seldom tends really to strengthen the con
nexion between the Church and the poor. It is the
clergyman s duty to work in his own person according to
the system marked out by the Church, and in strict sub
ordination to the parochial system ; and he will act wisely
in requiring that all who assist him in his labours conform
to the same rule.
(2) It should be clearly understood by clergy
and visitors what the latter are to do, and ^ ty oi
where they are to go ; and rules should be laid
down, and printed, for their general guidance 7 . The
principal objects, I conceive, of lady- visitors visiting,
should be to read the Scriptures to the ignorant and
incapacitated, especially of their own sex; to search out
the sick that they may inform the clergyman ; to promote
the comfort of the poor by judicious advice on domestic
subjects ; to sweep the children into the schools ; to
promote the use of parochial institutions, such as clubs,
penny banks, &c. ; to persuade the poor to go to church ;
to give personal service in cases of sickness ; and, not
7 " Hints to District Visitors, followed by a few Prayers selected for
their Use, by Francis Hessey, D.C.L. London, Skeffington," is a little work
strongly to be recommended to the clergy for this purpose.
334 PAROCHIAL LAY CO-OPERATION.
unfrequently, to make up the number required for the
administration of the Holy Communion to the sick. But
the details of system will probably vary a good deal,
according to the nature of the parish, and the manner
in which it is worked by the clergyman. It will also
be found that some ladies are best qualified for one
kind of work, and some for another ; and there should
be a general desire on the part of clergy and visitors
alike, that each should be so set to work as most to pro
mote by that work the glory of God and the good of
souls.
(3) The work of visiting the poor should
character on ty De undertaken in a devotional spirit, as
given to service rendered to God, and rendered in His
the work.
Church. To promote such a spirit, all visitors
should be requested to use some special prayer or prayers
in connexion with their work ; and to be as punctual
and exact as they can in attendance at all the services
of the Church. It would be well, also, to fix some par
ticular day in the year, or in every quarter, on which all
should meet together to receive the Holy Communion,
with special reference to the work in which they are
engaged.
Much more might be said on the prolific subject of
woman s parochial work ; and there are many schemes on
trial in the shape of Nursing Institutions, Penitentiaries,
Sisterhoods, Training Institutions for Servants, Bible
Women, &c., all of which are deserving of respect for the
good intentions of those who work them, and many for the
results of their labours. But these experiments are scarcely
PAROCHIAL LAY CO-OPERATION. 335
in so settled a state as to enable a writer to speak of them
otherwise than as experiments for some time to come ; and
I have thought it better to restrict myself to pointing out
the manner in which women may work for the Church by
means of existing organizations. I have also been obliged
to omit noticing, for a string of anecdotes would be the
only way of showing it, how many other and unforeseen
ways there are in which an observant clergyman may turn
feminine gentleness and self-sacrifice to account in the
necessities that are constantly arising for its exercise, and
coming under his notice. Let him only have a set of
visitors, sisters, or whatever name they are called by, a set
of devout and Avorking Christian ladies at his command
for the work of Christ, and he will find no lack of oppor
tunity for their employment, or of willingness on their
part to be employed in any thing that they can undertake.
. Organization of Laity for Church tvork.
In what I have hitherto written, it will be observed
that nothing has been said of any very exact system of
organizing laymen and women for their co-operation in
Church work, nor of episcopal guidance and supervision.
It appears to me that we are not ripe for either ; and must
be content to go on at present in an irregular manner,
depending upon the uncertain means at our disposal, and
the limited authority which can be exercised by the
parochial clergyman. After all, good principles, founded
on a just appreciation of his own spiritual position and
responsibilities, a moderately sound judgment, and that
energy which is always awake to opportunities, these will
336 PAROCHIAL LAY CO-OPERATION.
do more to help a parish priest towards attaining the end
in view than the nicest possible system, cut and dried,
without them. There is too much disposition among us
to be satisfied only with delicately finished tools, when
rough ones wielded by ready hands would answer the
purpose equally well, and keep the workman less intent on
his tool than his labour. It is of little use to possess an
elaborately well devised instrument for carving out a
certain material unless we have the skill to use it, or the
material to work upon ; still less to leave the precious
material to rot while we are waiting for a tool that exactly
meets our fancy. Work may be provided for the laity of
his parish by almost every earnest clergyman ; and in
almost every parish workers of some kind are to be found.
But we must wait longer before the laity can be organized
into formal bodies, even supposing such an organization
should be expedient, and before the experiments now
making shall prove so far sound that they may receive the
stamp of authority at the hands of our spiritual guides,
rulers, and chief pastors.
It will be necessary, therefore, for every clergyman to
consider the requirements of his own particular position,
and of his parish ; and to ascertain where lay help would be
advantageous. The school fund may depend almost entirely
upon himself, here is an opportunity for enlisting a sense
of lay responsibility for the education of the poor. The
school itself may be in great need of more teachers, here
is an opportunity for seeking personal service in conduct
ing it. The poor of the parish may abound beyond his
own power of attending to them, or even beyond that of
PAROCHIAL LAY CO-OPERATION. 337
himself and any number of clergy that he can call to his
aid, then let him seek for visitors among his laity, men
and women, who will help him by relieving him of such
part of the work as can be done as well by them as by
himself. And whatever he asks his laity to undertake,
let him ask them also to give him their confidence, to
believe that he desires above all things that all together
may draw souls to Christ, and to accept his regulations in
the spirit in which they are made, that all may work
towards that one end, however various the nature of their
several labours may be.
I will only add that the duties of the laity in respect to
personal participation in works of charity ought to be
frequently urged from the pulpit in all town parishes,
especially in such cities as London and Manchester.
CHAPTER XL
AUXILIARY PAROCHIAL INSTITUTIONS.
EVERY active clergyman will find it desirable, and even
necessary, to supplement the ordinary parochial system
with various Clubs, Savings Bank, Lending Library, and
other institutions of the sort, which are not connected
directly with the work of his office, but which are yet
ancillary to that work in no unimportant degree. In
country places these institutions will be almost entirely
dependent on the clergyman and his family for their
origin, support, and practical working ; but where there are
any of the laity who can be persuaded to undertake a share
in their management, or to relieve the clergyman of some
of them almost entirely, he will find many good reasons,
as indicated in the last chapter, for putting them into
their hands ; still maintaining them as parish and Church
institutions by being at the head of them himself.
The auxiliary institutions to which I am referring will
generally be such as resolve themselves under three
classes; (1) a means for promoting provident habits; (2)
for offering wholesome recreation and improvement to
working men, especially in the evening ; (3) for securing
AUXILIARY PAROCHIAL INSTITUTIONS. 339
personal interest in the work of the Church. I will en
deavour to sketch out shortly and clearly the principles
and the working machinery of some useful institutions
under each of these heads.
. Means for promoting provident habits.
Among the first and most useful of these,
must be reckoned a comparatively recent appli- b a ^k" ny
cation of the savings -bank principle, which
has extended its good effects to a much lower stratum of
society ; and which has so little of novelty in it, that we
may at once accept it as an institution of proved value.
" Penny " banks are, in reality, savings banks, or banks
of deposit, in which the machinery is made as simple as
possible, the smallest sum received, and every thing done
to bring them temptingly home to the poorest classes.
The ordinary savings bank has always been a dead letter
to the majority of the day labouring classes, both in town
and country, but the eagerness with which the modern
adaptation of it to their wants has been seized on, proves
that it was no want of will to make small savings which
proved the hindrance, but the comparatively cumbrous
character of the machinery which was necessary for re
ceiving and paying back deposits l . Even in the town of
Derby, where opportunity offered itself for a comparison
1 There are very few Savings Banks of the old kind in any but large
towns, and depositors are often kept waiting a long while before their turn
comes. I have often been obliged to wait half-an-hour, when depositing
club money. The Post Office Savings Banks are scarcely more available
than the older ones for the poor.
/. 2
340
AUXILIARY PAROCHIAL INSTITUTIONS.
of the two systems, the Rev. Erskine Clarke found the
following result from the "work of one Saturday night
at each 2 :"
Amount
Deposited.
Number of
Depositors.
Sums
under 5s.
Savings Bank ....
Penny Bank
*. d.
54 14 3
20 1 6
49
242
6
221
There is reason to believe that the merest fraction of all
these small depositors, in this and other cases, would have
availed themselves of the ordinary savings bank ; so that
here is a clear penetration of a good principle to a class of
society likely to benefit by its adoption, which makes
the penny bank an institution that may be confidently
taken up by the parochial clergyman. And it may be
safely added that the great majority of deposits made
in it will be so much withdrawn from mere waste and
sensual drinking, to be applied at a subsequent time to
better, and perhaps very good, purposes 3 .
"Where such a bank I confess to thinking the name
2 Plain Papers on the Social Economy of the People. No. II. Penny
Banks. Bell and Daldy.
1 The continued success of these institutions may be seen in the follow
ing statement. "From the lately published report of the Central Com
mittee of the Yorkshire Penny Savings Bank for the year 1862, it appears
that, at the close of 1861, the number of districts open was twenty-nine,
and the number of branches open 161, while the deposits amounted to
40,5717. 1C*. Id. On the 31st of December last there were thirty-one
districts and 171 branches. The balance of deposits over repayments
amounted to 52,238Z. Is. I0d., and the number of depositors was 17,796.
Number of deposits made during last year, 134,219; number of with
drawals, 12,738."
AUXILIARY PAROCHIAL INSTITUTIONS. 341
might be improved is to be founded on a large scale, it
will be best for the clergyman to make himself well-
acquainted with the system advocated by Mr. Clarke in
the pamphlet I have referred to ; and also, if he can, by
personal observation of the plan on which it is practically
carried out. But in a parish where the number of de
positors would not extend beyond one or two hundred
there is generally room for some modification of that
system, such as combining the bank with a clothing or
coal club, adding interest to the money deposited, re
quiring regular payments of a minimum sum weekly, &c. ;
and some of these additions to the mere deposit system
may, from the influence of local circumstances, be as
valuable in promoting habits of providence as the simple
principle of the " penny " bank is, in its degree.
In establishing a parochial bank of this kind it must
be considered, first of all, whether interest on the deposits
can or cannot be guaranteed by the clergyman, either
from his own pocket, or by means of subscriptions, or
from some parish fund. If so, the rate should be fixed
rather high, and it should not be paid at all on deposits
which have been in the bank under a certain time, or on
any sum beyond a certain amount, or for more than a
year. Among artizans who are receiving high wages,
interest is of no consequence, but it is valued by agricul
tural labourers, and by all the poorer classes ; so that it
will depend much oil the nature of the locality whether
it is expedient to give it or not. Supposing that the
decision is in favour of interest, and that it is also in
favour of combining a coal and clothing club, or either,
342 AUXILIARY PAROCHIAL INSTITUTIONS.
with the bank, it will be necessary to have suitable forms
printed on which the depositor may possess a statement
of the deposits made, and a book in which a duplicate
statement may be written for the guidance and security
of the banker who receives them. There is a moral ad
vantage in adopting a card for the first, instead of an
ordinary depositor s book. Being divided into weeks, and
open to the eye of the depositor, blanks are conspicuous,
and if they arise from negligence or extravagance, they
offer a silent reproach ; and simple as the matter may
seem, it is one worth regarding when the object is that
of training to provident habits. I should recommend,
therefore, that 500 or more of cards be procured, having
the rules of the bank printed on one side, and columns
for the account on the other ; and also a book of 300
pages, with two duplicates of the account side of the card
on every right-hand page 4 . A small cash account book,
(in which to enter the weekly payments of depositors, and
repayments to them, in a gross sum on either side,) and
two wooden bowls for holding the silver and copper
money paid in, will, with cards and duplicate book, con
stitute the banker s stock in trade, the whole costing about
two pounds.
Both the rules and the accounts should be as simple as
possible, but yet the latter should be contrived to show
at any time the state of the deposit; both for the sake
of knowing how the account stands, and of winding it up
without much calculation. The following, for card and
4 The left-hand page being left for remarks, notices of intended with
drawal, &c.
AUXILIARY PAROCHIAL INSTITUTIONS.
343
duplicate book, and combining the several features I am
pre- supposing to have been adopted, will be found to
answer the purpose well.
William Smith.
57
WEEKS.
MONTHLY
TOTALS.
1
2 \ 3 | 4
5
Coal
or
Clothing.
Money.
r
or
C
u
ir
3
u
c
or
c
M
c
or
u
i
>r
<
u
s.
d.
s. | d.
December . . .
. ,
3
!
3
2
3
3
2
1
3
1
5
January
;;
-
:!
2
3
1
3
3
1
6
February . . . .
:;
2
3
:;
2
:;
3
3
1
1
8
March
:;
6
3
-
3
1
6
April
1
1
3
2
3
2
:;
I
1
1
Jtfav . . ,
3
s
3
2
3
1
3
1
3
1
3
I
3
June
3
3
-
3
-
3
-
1
July
3
12
3
6
3
1
3 2
1
2
August
3
-
3
12
3
L2
3
3
1
2
3
September. . .
3
slio
3
6
>
6
1
I
10
October
3
3
24
3
1
:;
6
1
2
10
November. . . .
:;
1
3
3
-
3
6
1
10
Withdrawn . .
s.
d
INTEREST
12
1
6
oj
15
1
1
3
13
6
16
4
344 AUXILIARY PAROCHIAL INSTITUTIONS.
[Back of the Card.]
St. f oJjn s
RULES OF THE BANK, CLOTHING, AND COAL CLUB.
1. The Bank is open every Monday morning at the Club House,
from 10 till 12.
2. Any sum, however small, is received.
3. Deposits may be withdrawn at any time on giving a week s
notice.
4. All deposits arc repaid, or Coal or Clothing tickets given in the
first week of December.
5. Interest is given at the rate of one penny in the shilling on all
money up to 21. in the whole, that has been deposited,
unless there have been four weeks running without any deposit
in either column.
At the club house, then, or in some other convenient
place, let the clergyman, or a confidential substitute, take
AUXILIARY PAROCHIAL INST1TUTIOXS. 345
up their station, and be prepared to receive deposits punc
tually at the time fixed in the rules 5 . If many are ex
pected, it is better to have a convenient and definite
arrangement of the room, so that they may enter and
depart from it in an orderly manner and without delay ;
and it so often happens that a majority of those who come
arrive at the same time, as to make such an arrangement
really necessary for all concerned, either by means of a
permanent barrier, such as is used before the ticket window
of railway stations, or else by some cunning complication
of the furniture of the room in the neighbourhood of the
table. It is also advisable, where there are two or three
hundred depositors to have two persons at the table, one
to receive the money and enter it in the book, the other
to mark the card and return it to the depositor. When
notice is given for the withdrawal of any sum, the card
should be left until the following week, that it may be
made up at leisure during the interval ordered by the
rules. On the last pay-day of the bank year, the last in
the month of November, all the cards must be given in
by depositors, to be made up, and compared with the book.
This is a work of some labour, and requires a quick
calculator, but it will bo much facilitated if the monthly
column on the extreme right has been regularly filled
up in the book and on the card, and the two compared.
Punctual attention to this column is also a security against
5 Lay visitors would, of course, be used as much as possible for such pur
poses as those under consideration. I have not thought it necessary in the
text, to recur to the subject of lay help, as this is so self-evident an
application of such valuable assistance.
346 AUXILIARY PAROCHIAL INSTITUTIONS.
fraud (which it is desirable to guard against), or mistakes,
which can be cleared up, perhaps, at the end of the month,
but cannot if undiscovered till the end of the year.
The coal part of the business is best managed by arrang
ing with a neighbouring coal-dealer to supply the necessary
quantity at some reduction in consideration of the many
tons required ; and to deliver it only on the production of
an order signed by the responsible person ; all the orders
being kept until the settlement of the account, as vouchers
for the quantity actually supplied by him. If there are
many coal depositors, (and the number will vary much in
different localities,) it will be convenient to have an order
book made in the form of a cheque book, similar to this,
which I have found very convenient :
Coal Club.
To Mr.
Please to deliver not. of Coals
(Signed)
Secretary
The clothing part of the club may be managed in two ways,
each of which has its advocates. The easiest is to give
AUXILIARY PAROCHIAL INSTITUTIONS. 347
orders on one or more linendrapers of the kind patronized
by the working classes. But I think the best way is for
some two or three ladies to take lists of the materials
which each woman requires, and then, having arranged
these lists so that they can calculate the quantities of calico
or gown print, or whatever else may be wanted, to give
the order in its agglomerate form to a tradesman who will
take it on some fair terms of reduction or discount, such
as he could not offer if he had to dole out the articles in
small quantities to each person. Sometimes, an arrange
ment may thus be made even with the Manchester or
Glasgow manufacturer, the expense of carriage being much
less than the reduction in price. But these are details
which must be decided by a consideration of the circum
stances of the place, and of all the persons concerned, and
it will not be necessary for me to go further into them.
A good clergyman s wife, or some other experienced
matron, should be very busy about them at the time when
the club is winding up for the year ; and to many ladies
this kind of work is a pleasant one, as well as being a work
of real charity to their less well-informed or less thrifty
sisters among the poor.
In the suggestions thus offered for a combined Provident
Bank and Club, the general principles and plan of such
institutions will be found ; Shoe Clubs, Lying-in Clubs,
and adaptation in matters of detail, will offer no difficulties
that need explanation. Among a dense population, the
introduction of them is, upon the whole, less advantageous
than that of a " Penny " Bank ; but in a village parish
there are subordinate influences connected with them,
348 AUXILIARY PAROCHIAL INSTITUTIONS.
which heighten their value as a means of promoting
Christian prudence, and there they must be judged on
other than strictly logical or financial grounds.
. Means of Recreation and Improvement.
Nearly every parish has now its Lending
library S Library, and the management of it is so simple,
that I shall pass it by with the one remark,
that it should be made very accessible, and that a genial
tone of books should be freely cultivated, as well for
grown up readers as for children 6 .
Among all the means that have been contrived for pro
viding the working classes with wholesome recreation of
an instructive kind, I know none that prove so successful as
a sensible combination of the Mechanic s Institute system
and the free English home, which becomes to the working
man what his club is to the man of higher station. The
necessity for such institutions is becoming more and more
evident. After the hours of work are over, there are
several hours yet for which some occupation, or some
means of passing the time, are required. In a working
man s home there is little room for the men of the family
in the evening, and they are often in the way until supper
time arrives. There is also a natural tendency among
men to find opportunities for associating together occa-
6 For some details, however, see Appendix, E and F. Old magazines,
(which arc to be bought at any London second-hand-book shop for a tenth
of the cost price,) furnish much useful material for a lending library. They
must be looked through, and the good parts taken out and bound in thin
volumes.
AUXILIARY PAROCHIAL INSTITUTIONS. 349
sionally for the indefinable satisfaction which is derived
from society. These reasons lie at the root of the public-
house habits of our labouring men in town and country,
the pleasure of sipping beer or spirits being originally at
least a subordinate attraction, an accident of the circum
stance that the only public place open to free use is that
where they are the source of trade and profit. The Odd
Fellows Association, and others of a less extensive organ
ization, but very similar character, are partly a result of
this natural tendency of men in the lower ranks of life, as
in the upper, to associate together for social enjoyment ;
but very few of them have been able to drag themselves
free from the public- house bondage by meeting in rooms
of their own ; though many of them do make drinking a
very subordinate part indeed of the evening s occupation ;
and heavy fines are imposed for intoxication or disorderly
conduct 7 .
It will not unfrequently fall to the lot of the pastor to
look with an anxious eye towards the establishment of
some institution which will provide in a healthy manner
for a want so commonly indicated, but so badly supplied ;
and whether in a village or a town, he will find a
"Working Man s Club" a most useful addition to his
* 7 Rules 130133 in the laws of the Manchester Unity of Odd Fellows.
An article on " Unity and Fellowship among the Working Classes," by the
present writer, appeared in the May 1862 number of the " North of England
Magazine," containing many statistics and details on the subject. There are
probably 640,000 working men who are members of the Odd Fellows and
kindred associations, and the annual disbursements to needy members are of
very large amount.
350 AUXILIARY PAROCHIAL INSTITUTIONS.
parochial arrangements. It must take a very varied
character, according to the means at his disposal ; and in
some cases more of the religious or the educational element
may be introduced than is mostly advisable or possible.
But in every such club the founders must carefully keep
before them the two facts that it is intended for those
who have already done a day s work, and that it can only
be made to answer by a judicious adaptation of its regu
lations and character to the habits of the class who are
expected to use it.
An account of the establishment of such a club at Hagley
was printed in the " Minutes of the Committee of Council
on Education " for 1851-2, and the reader will find some
very practical information in those parts of it which I
subjoin. The writer is the Hon. and Rev. "W. H. Lyt-
telton, rector of the parish, and he says : " We turned
the school room after school hours into a reading room,
making it as comfortable as possible, and furnishing it
with illustrated newspapers and books, and with draught
and chess boards. This was so new a kind, of thing to
common labourers, and the amusements it offered were so
quiet, that there was danger they would be shy of it, and
not attend. We therefore at first induced them to come
chiefly for a cricket-match, and told them, that when tired
of that, or obliged by darkness to stop, they might then
attend the reading room. This answered well, and I then
took the occasion of a cricket-match on one of the race
days (when masters in this country generally give their
workmen a half-holiday) to give them a dinner, at which
I proposed and carried the rules, and elected officers.
AUXILIARY PAROCHIAL INSTITUTIONS. 351
This increased my influence, and started the club with
spirit and good feeling.
" The point of electing officers is very important. We
have a permanent president, viz. myself. I was appointed
to the office, not so much as rector, but rather, as it is
stated in the rules, as founder of the club, as it is desirable
to make all feel that laymen are quite as much interested
in the club as the clergyman, and also to make it at future
times open to the club to elect any other person president,
if he should happen to seem better fitted for the office than
the clergyman. Then, besides the president, we elect
annually two vice-presidents, a treasurer, a secretary, two
collectors, a librarian, and six committee-men. The object
of having so many officers is to make as many as possible
feel personally interested in the management and high
character of the club. We have committee meetings once
a month. The subscription at present is eighteen-pence a
quarter, probably rather too large a sum, and unnecessary,
as many of the rich have given subscriptions.
"We found, at first, that the greater number came to
the reading room almost only to play draughts and to look
at the engravings in the newspaper. This it was clear
could not last, and already there are few who come often
to play draughts. It was necessary, therefore, to try to
draw them into some occupation of more lasting interest.
For this purpose I have offered a prize, at the end of every
half-year, to every one who by that time shall have read
any useful book chosen by himself and approved by me, so
as to be able to stand an examination in it." [This, how
ever, was not found to answer.]
352 AUXILIAKY PAROCHIAL INSTITUTIONS.
" The advantages I already see in the club are many ;
it gives a great opportunity for the clergy and other
Christians in the place to gain influence with the young
men. Even if at any time few shall belong to it, it will
always give an alternative for the beer-shop to the well-
disposed. But, probably, the chief advantage will be the
tendency it must have, if rightly managed, to encourage a
right feeling and tone in public opinion among the
members, to lead them to do right, by their own good
feeling and sympathy with others in good, and not by
compulsion. The habit of acting not selfishly but from
public spirit, and of being willing to give money for the
public good, without any immediate return to themselves,
is effectively brought out. When the music class was first
established, and it was necessary ,to draw from the common
fund to pay the master, some at first objected, on the
ground that they themselves (not being musicians) would
receive no benefit from it ; but were soon induced to with
draw their objections on being made to feel its selfishness,
and contrariety to the ground-principle of a club, which is
a desire in each member for the good of the whole body,
and not of any one class among the members. Self-denial,
out of good- will to one another, is in this way practically
taught ; and so far as that can be built on the common
love of God, and of righteousness, justice, mercy, and
truth, and all things which God loves, and on real Chris
tian motives, it does solid and lasting good. It must be
the object of all Christian members of the club to lead all
to act habitually from such instead of from selfish and
mean motives. Lectures may also be given, and prizes
AUXILIARY PAROCHIAL INSTITUTIONS. 353
offered for knowledge of the Bible and religious sub
jects.
" A museum of the natural productions of the country,
and of its manufactures, has also been started ; the gar
deners collecting wild and other flowers, the workers in
iron and others specimens of iron ore and of wrought iron
in different stages of its manufacture, the stonemasons
specimens of stone, and others bringing glass or any other
manufactured materials from the neighbourhood, and pos
sibly some member may learn to stuff birds and animals.
Clubs like this may at last be made universities for the
poor, where they may learn all useful knowledge V
The rules of a similar institution are now before me,
which is on a less ambitious scale than the above, and
which has its home like it in the parish school. It may
be useful to give a summary of the more important of
these rules, by way of completing the sketch given in the
preceding paragraphs.
Rules of the Church Institute.
1. Defines the name.
2. That the object of the Institute be the extension of
general knowledge, in subordination to Christianity, and
in accordance with the principles of the Church of
England.
8 In connexion with this latter paragraph, I may mention that an oppor
tunity was offered me for opening an exhibition in a mining district in the
year 1862, in imitation of the Great Exhibition. The building lent me was
large enough to hold about 1000 people ; the things exhibited were all lent
by manufacturers, the neighbouring gentry, and others. A band played for
354 AUXILIARY PAROCHIAL INSTITUTIONS.
3. States the officers of the Institute, and committee of
management.
4. Who are to be annually elected, but the old officers
to be eligible for re-election.
5 and 6. Duties of Treasurer, Secretary, and Com
mittee.
7. States terms of membership; honorary members
subscribe six shillings a year ; ordinary members four
shillings, and lads under eighteen years of age two shil
lings ; to be paid in advance quarterly.
8. Members to be admitted by election at a Committee,
or a general, Meeting.
9. Committee has power to expel disorderly members.
10. Publications to be voted by the Committee, subject
to the veto of the President.
But, if a separate building can be procured, which
can be appropriated to other parochial purposes as well
as the Working Men s Club, or Church Institute, it
may be made the nucleus of an admirable parish
auxiliary, and by tact in its management become so
popular as to be almost a self-paying institution. In such
a case, provision should be made for supplying some
homely kind of refreshment at a low price during the
evening; and if a smoking-room can be added to the
some hours every evening, and a piano often in the day. Volunteer concerts
were also given on several evenings. In a fortnight about 10,000 persons
passed through the building, and showed the greatest interest in the works
of art, models, natural history specimens, &c., which were shown. The
highest price of admission was 6d., but the expense was more than covered ;
and I had good reason to think a very ameliorating effect was produced
on an extremely rough population.
AUXILIARY PAROCHIAL INSTITUTIONS. 355
establishment, experience shows that it will bring a large
addition of members without causing the least disorder.
An important point in such institutions is to keep them
well lighted and warmed, and well ventilated. A certain
amount of refinement about the decorations is desirable,
and a general air of comfort thrown over the whole, which
will make it at least equal to the club-room of the public-
house, and if possible, a great deal more tempting. There
need be no fear of destroying the taste for home. The
members who use the institution most will be the young
unmarried men, and even they will probably be more
domesticated by it than they ever would be if they had no
such refuge in which to spend the unoccupied hours of the
evening.
Perhaps the best model of such an institution as this is
one that was established in Oxford three or four years ago
under the name of the "Oxford Churchmen s Union."
It unites the various features of a Mechanics Institute, a
Young Men s Christian Association, and an Evening Club ;
and leaped into such rapid popularity with the classes for
w r hom it was founded, that it has now a handsome set of
buildings in Broad Street, and numbers nearly a thousand
members. Its constitution underwent a searching review
at meetings of the clergy and many laymen of Oxford, and
as it will probably be the pattern of many associations
like itself in other parts of the country, I have printed the
Rules and Bye-Laws in the Appendix 9 . Its objects will
9 See Appendix D.
Aa2
356 AUXILIARY PAROCHIAL INSTITUTIONS.
be seen to be of a very excellent character, embracing
some of the most desirable points of lay co-operation.
. Means for securing personal interest in the pastoral work
of the Church.
Under this head I include a personal interest in pastoral
work, not only as it relates to the benefit of the poor of
the parish, or to the spiritual good of others, but also as
regards the participation of the persons themselves in
terested in the means of grace, and their progress in the
spiritual life. Many parochial societies which had these
two objects in view were founded at the end of the seven
teenth and the beginning of the eighteenth centuries,
under the name of " Religious Societies," and were sanc
tioned by Tillotson, Tenison, Beveridge, Stillingfleet, and
other bishops of the day. They appear to have originated
with Dr. Anthony Horneck, one of Queen Mary s chap
lains, and a pious author of a once well-known and popular
devotional work, " The Crucified Jesus ;" and they seem to
have been absorbed by the early Methodist system, which
professed and not insincerely to be a system within and
not without the Church of England. But although these
Religious Societies disappeared before the advance of
Methodism, many clergymen have found it good for them
selves and their parishioners to take them in some degree
as the pattern of similar institutions, at much later periods.
Among them Legh Richmond, who originated one in his
parish, the objects of which were the promotion of habitual
prayer, the exposition of Holy Scripture and the Prayer
Book, the resolution of spiritual difficulties, and general
AUXILIARY PAROCHIAL INSTITUTIONS. 357
consultation on religious matters. Similar parish societies
have also been formed in various places in our own day ;
and though, perhaps, they do not last many years, they do
good while they last, and will bear revival in successive
generations. They are, I suppose, in the Church, and
partaking of a Church spirit, what " class meetings " are
among the Methodists ; and it is well known how much
strength is given by these to the Methodist system.
Should it be thought advisable to attempt the formation
of such a society in a parish, the first step will be for the
clergyman to invite some of the more earnest and intel
ligent communicants to a consultation ; and, pointing out
to them the advantage to each of definite rule in religious
practice, suggest to them that they should form an un
ostentatious association for the purpose of forwarding in
their own persons, and by their efforts with others, the
glory of God. Attendance at Divine service, frequent
communion, private prayer, the promotion of godliness in
their own households (where they are heads of families),
and some of the practical work which has been suggested
in a previous chapter, may form the objects of such
associations ; and instances have been known of a large
increase of the number of communicants, with a general
advance in the sense of religious responsibility, resulting
from their formation. For rules, the following may be
taken as a suggestion of the principal heads under which
they would fall.
1. The members of the society to aim at consistency
in faith and practice, endeavouring to show a good ex
ample of holy living in the Church of England.
358 AUXILIARY PAROCHIAL INSTITUTIONS.
2. To become, if not already, frequent communicants.
3. To support the services of the Church by personal
attendance, joining in the responses and singing, and by
promoting the same habits in their families.
4. To give alms freely themselves; and to endeavour
to relieve the clergy from pecuniary responsibilities for
parochial work, by exciting a spirit of almsgiving in
others.
5. To remember in their private prayers such Church
work as is commended to their attention.
6. To assist the pastor of the parish in his pastoral
work by whatever means they legitimately can do so.
7. To make known, where they can unostentatiously
do so, the true principles of the Church of England.
8. While showing charity towards Dissenters in word
and deed, not to flinch from an open profession of belief
that the religion of the Church is the better way of ad
vancing spiritual life.
An association formed on such a plan, would offer to
the clergyman a permanent nucleus of persons upon
whom he could depend, for the furtherance of any good
object ; and each of its members would regard himself
as being in a certain degree responsible on behalf of the
Church, for the works in which she is engaged. There
need be no element of schism whatever in such a society ;
but, rather, if it is begun in a loyal submission to the
principles of the Church of England, it may prove a
means of strengthening the love of those who already
know her value, and arousing it in those who have never
thoroughly learned it.
AUXILIARY PAROCHIAL INSTITUTIONS. 359
Such an association would in a great degree supersede
the necessity of any other for Church work : but it may
be pointed out, in conclusion, that every parish ought
to have some organization for the purpose of assisting
the various missionary labours of the Church among
the heathen, and among the almost heathen of our own
land ; and it is, in the opinion of many, a better plan
to have a joint society for all such purposes, the funds of
which are distributed to the various parent societies
in definite proportions, than to break up the energies
of collectors and others by covering ground in too great
detail.
CHAPTER XII.
PARISH FESTIVALS.
AN opinion has been gaining ground among the "clergy
for some years, that parish festivities of one kind or
another are an important item among the many sub
ordinate means by which the attempt is being made to
raise the standard of morality and good feeling among
the lower classes. Of the general wish which all of us
feel to draw on the labouring classes, whether in towns
or villages, to a more rational and elevating kind of re
creation than that in which they are accustomed to in
dulge, I have already spoken ; but what I now wish
chiefly to refer to are those special occasions when, with the
rest of the world, as on a Princess of Wales s wedding-
day, or for some local reason of rejoicing, work is put
aside, and amusement becomes the business of the day.
In large towns, where Crystal Palaces, People s Parks,
and other wholesome places of recreation are within
reach, the clergyman will have an easy task ; unless, in
deed, it fall to his lot to be the actual and responsible
conductor of an army of children and others on a day s
excursion. Fresh air, flowers, tasteful sights, and good
PARISH FESTIVALS. 361
music, are all enemies of vice, and encouragers of self-
restraint ; and there is a happy tendency towards the
provision of innocent amusements out of town for town
working-classes, for which the clergy may be very thank
ful.
In the country the case is different. Oc
casions of general rejoicing are there usually fg^f 6
limited to one week in the year, which is set
apart time immemorial for a week of village excitement
and feasting; and which, too often, is a week of con
centrated immorality and riot. "Feast-week" is looked
forward to for many days beforehand as the great holiday
of the year ; and when it arrives, there is almost a total
cessation of labour throughout the parish during the days
which are set apart for its observance. The farmers are
willing to be idle, and entertain friends from a distance.
The labouring men and boys spend their mornings loung
ing about the village in their Sunday clothes, looking
extremely as if they were puzzling themselves what they
shall do with their hands if they once take them out of
their pockets. The children haunt stalls and tents where
bad gingerbread and worse sweetmeats are vended by half-
gipsy men and women ; or with the doubtful air of
cautious purchasers consider on which of the multitu
dinous flimsy and fragile toys offered to their admiring
gaze they shall spend their saved- up pennies. "Wives
and daughters are busy all the morning, making ready
some extra delicacies for the mid-day meal, and preparing
for the " tea," to which friends and neighbours are to be
welcomed.
362 PARISH FESTIVALS.
All this is harmless enough; but when
r evils. d raws on things assume a very
different aspect to the eye of the clergyman or of any
other acute observer. The elder labourers early in the
afternoon grow tired of keeping their hands in their
pockets, and stroll into the public-houses ; the younger
men begin to haunt the dancing-booths, and it is not long
before they are joined by partners of the other sex, a
certain proportion of the latter being avowed harlots from
the neighbouring town or other villages. The temptation
to a merry dance is so great that only the very best young
women in the village can resist it, though many who enter
the booths would be ashamed at other times to be seen in
such company as is sure to be present. These dancing-
booths are generally set up in the back yard of a public-
house or beer-shop, the owner of it often paying the owner
of the booth for the presence of the latter on his premises,
and making his profit out of the refreshments consumed
by the dancers. The owner of the booth himself, with his
staff of musicians, takes rank among the lowest scum of
those who live by itinerant pursuits ; and the more profli
gacy there is attracted by his booth the better is he satisfied,
as his own chance of profit will thus be raised. No young
women can enter these dancing-booths at the village feast
without permanent damage to their modesty ; and few
leave them without that damage having proceeded so far
as to lead to immediate or very early seduction ; the danger
being all the greater, because it is not so obvious to
young people always eager for a dance as to the looker-on,
who feels none of its attractions. Meanwhile, the ordinary
PARISH FESTIVALS. 363
round of a beer-shop evening is being reproduced for the
thousandth time in each labourer s experience, with a
threefold exaggeration of its ordinary stupidity and sen
suality. Of conviviality, in any sense understood by
higher classes of society, there is none. The temptations
of a village tap-room at feast time, as at other seasons,
consist simply in beer-drinking and the pleasure of being
in the company of other men. There is an occasional
song, almost always of a brutal and indecent character,
but seldom sung through to the end, or with any spirit.
There is also an abundance of boisterous clamour, in which
no one cares what any one else is saying, or knows exactly
what he is saying himself, and in which there is not the
slightest attempt at that relation between one person s words
and the words of another which is necessary to constitute
conversation, even agricultural conversation. After many
hours of such purposeless drinking and clamour, the whole
assembly is probably turned out of doors by the keeper of
the public-house, and all wend their way as they can home
wards, some wholly, all in a great degree, intoxicated.
Such is the village feast, or fair, as at present
known in every English county, a time of
almost unredeemed profligacy and drunken
ness. And being what it is, no wonder that the clergy
should be endeavouring to provide some substitute for it,
which, by superior attractions, shall wean away the
labouring population, old and young, from scenes pro
ductive of so much moral damage, and of so little rational
recreation.
" The real remedy," says a writer, or rather a preacher
364 PARISH FESTIVALS.
at the Bishop of Ely s Visitation in 1858 1 , " seems to lie
in the restoration of the feast to its old purpose. The reli
gious element is dying out, if not dead ; let us seek to
pour fresh life into it. The social element is degraded ;
let us seek to raise it. Religiously, our method of action
will differ with the differing circumstances of our parishes ;
but, speaking generally, it seems that if the minds of the
people are full of the subject for weeks before, then the
teaching for those weeks should bear upon it, directly or
indirectly. If the hearts of the congregation are occupied
with a thought, it is the simplest rule of effective preach
ing that our words should speak to it, instead of beating
the air. A pastoral letter, very plainly written, dealing
in local allusions and the actual condition of the parish,
would be read and talked about. The better mind of the
people should be appealed to, the young warned, the
earnest encouraged, the communicants exhorted to give
special prayer for a better observance of the feast; and
upon the Sunday before, and at a special service upon the
day itself, there might be pointed, telling sermons, to show
the blessings or evils which must result from its being well
or badly kept.
" As to the social or secular element, it would clearly be
unwise and wrong merely to abolish low pleasures, (even
were this possible,) without sanctioning or providing
better.
*****
" There is a natural desire for the recreation of body
1 Archdeacon Thomas, then Rector of Millbrook, Beds, and Priest in Ordi
nary to Her Majesty. See "How shall the Parish Feast be dealt with?"
John Henry and James Parker. 1858.
PARISH FESTIVALS. 365
and mind which it is our work to try and keep healthy.
"We protest against the coarseness and riot of the dancing-
booth ; then we must afford a substitute, something purer
and better. We must rejoice to see our people employed
in innocent amusements of any kind. On one night of
the feast, some simple schoolroom entertainment would
present an attraction which would keep many from the
public-houses. And by our interest in the family gather
ings, of which some of our own old school-children would
form part, by an evident desire for the real happiness of
our people, and by earnest sympathy with them, we might
show in time that we were only anxious that they should
thoroughly enjoy themselves."
Harvest time, again, is another season when
the influence of the clergyman may be brought bomesT*
usefully to bear upon the habits of country
people. A Thanksgiving Service after harvest seems so
natural a thing for the clergyman to propose to his
parishioners, that none will certainly take offence, though
many may think it unnecessary. And if the service is
introduced, it may gradually be made the centre of a
better system of harvest home than that which has, until
lately, been so common, and which was mixed up with
many of the evils already referred to as characteristic of
the parish feast. What is to be said on these has been so
well said by a lady friend, in whose experience of the
festival mentioned I had some share, that I shall quote
her words at length.
" Modern harvest-feasts are conducted upon much the
same plan every where, and have much the same programme
of events, so that perhaps a short account of one at which
366 PARISH FESTIVALS.
I was present a few weeks ago will be a fair specimen of
what they are in general. On the occasion of which I
speak, the weather was brilliant, and the sun shone
brightly over a long procession as it wound round the
green at half-past one towards the church, with a small
brass band in attendance. The churchwardens walked in
front with their wands of office, surmounted by bunches of
flowers and ears of corn : then came one of the oldest
labourers in the village, carrying a sheaf, decorated with
ribbons, flowers, and a sickle ; whilst close behind followed
two reapers, bearing a banner wi^h the text, Let us come
into His presence with thanksgiving ; the mass of
labourers and villagers bringing up the rear. A halt was
made at the churchyard gate, and a party of surpliced
clergy came down the church- walk to meet them, heading
the procession as the whole body passed slowly up to the
church chanting the sixty-seventh Psalm. I mention the
procession thus minutely, because many of the villagers
expressed themselves so pleased with it, indeed they
didn t know but what they liked that as well as any thing
the whole day. The church was beautifully decorated
with corn, evergreens and flowers, and the triumphal
sheaf was raised aloft at the end of the nave. All seemed
to join heartily in the service, and the hymns rung through
the old building as if the congregation sang heartily and
with a good courage. After service all the male portion
of the congregation gathered in the park, where a tent
formed of rick-cloths had been pitched overnight, and
tables spread, with pots of bright flowers, all down the
centre. When the huge masses of beef and mutton had
been demolished, twenty plum-puddings were brought in
PARISH FESTIVALS. 367
procession down the avenue by as many ladies, preceded
by the band, loud and hearty cheers greeting their arrival.
Speeches and toasts followed the dinner, and then games
of all sorts were set on foot, cricket, football, quoits, racing,
and hurdle-jumping, whilst tea was laid for any one, man,
woman, or child, who chose to take it. After tea there
commenced a vigorous dance round the sheaf; it consisted
for the most part of the energetic swinging backwards and
forwards of two rings, an inner and an outer one, the
couples occasionally separating and skipping about to their
partners, much to the edification of lookers-on. Dancing
was stopped by the fireworks, which as the evening grew
dark began to blaze away in quick succession, and as the last
went up the band broke out into * God save the Queen. "
There is no doubt that such an entertainment has the
effect of bringing home to the labouring population the
connexion between religion and their daily work ; and that
the prominent position of the Church service of Thanks
giving happily draws out that hidden instinct of love for
the good old paths which lies hid in the breast of almost
every Englishman. In originating it the clergyman will
find it necessary to use tact with both farmers and
labourers, for both are very conservative in their habits,
and disposed to look upon innovations as necessarily bad.
Experience of one or two well-conducted harvest homes
will bring them both round to his side, and therefore he
must do his best to study the circumstances of his parish
from the farmers and labourers point of view, that he may
make the attempt successful. The farmers have to be
persuaded that the half-crown they usually give to each of
their harvest labourers for a supper, will be as well dis-
368 PARISH FESTIVALS.
posed of if all the money is clubbed together, and ex
pended by a committee with the parson at its head : the
labourers that they will not be stinted in beer, even
though a law of the Medes and Persians is passed that
no drunkenness shall be allowed J .
There will be something of an incredulous smile, at first,
at the mention of a Thanksgiving Service, for to those
actually engaged in the cultivation of the soil, crops are
almost as much looked on in the light of a manufactured
product as cotton yarn is. But these little obstacles must
not dishearten the clergyman, when so really good an object
is in view ; and he may encourage himself with the recollec
tion that in some parts of the country the happiest results
have attended the efforts of the clergy in this direction 3 .
Another kind of festivities in which the
school
treats and clergyman is expected to take an active in-
tea-drink-
ings. terest, and probably an active personal share,
are the school treats which have now gained
so firm an establishment in all parts of the country.
They were first introduced on a large scale by the Dis
senters, and afterwards became much developed in the
hands of the Temperance societies : from these they have
spread largely to Church schools, and are extremely
popular both with the children and the parents.
There is not much to be said on the subject which will
not be familiar to most of my readers ; but I would draw
attention to two points which seem to me of some import-
2 In practice, it is best to trust to the influence of public opinion, repre
sented by the squire, the clergyman and others, and not limit the quantity
of beer served out, but only the number of barrels provided.
3 See Appendix G. for an excellent Pastoral Letter on the subject of
a harvest festival.
PARISH FESTIVALS. 369
ance in connexion with school treats. The first is refine
ment, and the second, economy. It is a not uncommon
practice to give children their tea as if the whole and sole
object of the treat were to drench them with that fluid f
and to stuff them with unlimited cake in the easiest and
most rapid manner possible. I have found it a real advan
tage to act on the plans of those who think that oppor
tunity should be taken of training the children, if only for
an hour, in more refined ways ; and that it is better to
pitch the standard of the entertainment somewhat above
the level of their usual home life. Accordingly, the
entertainers should dispense with the odious custom of
obliging each poor child to burden itself with a mug, and
provide a sufficiency of cups and saucers with their neces
sary appliances. The tables should be covered with white
cloth so many yards of calico, if a very large quantity is
required ; and every thing placed a little above the ordi
nary experiences of those who are enjoying the feast, by
means of tasteful decorations, especially of fruit and
flowers.
With respect to economy, it may be observed that it is
a somewhat expensive thing to entertain some hundreds of
children, that it is often desirable to do this several times
in the year, and that an economical plan is essential to
many a clergyman when he is the entertainer. Although
it may seem a little odd in a book of this kind, I will
therefore insert here an estimate for entertaining two
hundred children, grounded on experience of many such
" treats," and put together under feminine superintend
ence.
B b
*
370
PARISH FESTIVALS.
Estimate for a School Treat to 200 Children.
100 pounds Cake
1 5
1J pound Tea .
6
10 pounds Sugar
5
1 Bushel Apples 4
5
\ box Oranges 4
15
4 pounds Sweetmeats 5
3
4
Bread and Butter
3
8
2 Women for help
3
3 6
The lady who is my authority in this matter adds, that as
she once heard a young country clergyman order the
whole contents of an Oxford pastrycook s shop to be sent
to him for his next day s school treat, she thinks it will be
expedient to add her recipe for the wholesome, and yet
excellent cake, which is thus estimated at the rate of
threepence a pound. Here it is.
Recipe for School Cake, 100 Pounds.
3 stones Flour .
3 pounds Butter
3 pounds Lard .
6 pounds Baisins
10 pounds Currants
9 pounds Moist Sugar
1 ounce Spice .
1 pound Candied Peel
1| gallon Milk .
Yeast ....
1 gallon Water
Woman for making and baking
5 6
3 6
1 6
2 6
3 4
3 4i
2J
1 3
1
10
2
1 5
4 To be scrambled for, or otherwise disposed of, after they have served
their purpose of decorating the tables during tea.
5 To be made up in packets as bonbons, and given to the little ones.
PARISH FESTIVALS. 371
If school treats are frequent, or if other entertainments
of a similar kind to the women of the parish seem ad
visable, it will be better to provide, once for all, a good
set of tables, made of three half-inch planks fastened
together by cross pieces, and ten or twelve feet long, with
five tressels for every two such tables, and a contrivance
for fastening them together, such as is used for the
"leaves" of dining- tables. A quantity of white calico
should be provided, sufficient to cover these ; as many
cheap cups and saucers as may ordinarily be required,
with a few plates for fruit and cake ; and several urns of
tin, by no means expensive to buy, to complete the " tea
equipage." "With such a stock of apparatus, stowed away
in the school-room, or in the parsonage, even a bachelor
clergyman may boldly face the prospect of several happy
" tea-fights " in the year, taken in the school-room or on
the parsonage grass-plat, without any danger of mishap
or inconvenience, such as not unfrequently happens to
unmethodical people.
Bb2
CHAPTER XIII.
MISCELLANEOUS RESPONSIBILITIES.
AFTER all the ordinary duties of a clergyman have been
reviewed, and all his ordinary responsibilities counted up,
there yet remain some which belong especially to an age
of Church revival like our own, and which can hardly be
allowed to be passed over. His parishioners will naturally
look to him as their leader, and in some degree their
guide in all matters connected with the house of God : and
it is so constantly in his view, that he may be expected to
be more familiar with its capabilities and requirements
than any one else ; to say nothing of the actual legal
responsibility which devolves upon him. To some of such
miscellaneous work I will call attention in this concluding
chapter.
. Church Restoration.
There are still so great a number of churches suffering
from the effects of neglect, selfishness, and ignorance of
Church of England principles, that there will be many
clergymen for the next generation or two upon whom some
duties will devolve with reference to their restoration. It is
MISCELLANEOUS RESPONSIBILITIES. 373
true that such work properly belongs to an architect, but it is
also true that much of the "restoration" required is of a kind
which requires rather taste, judgment, feeling, and ritual
knowledge, than the special qualifications of a professional
architect : and that a well-informed country clergyman
may guide a clever country builder or carpenter or black
smith in the production of work quite equal to that of the
original.
The great caution necessary in such cases is, to know
how far to go, and when the work imperatively requires
professional superintendence. A clergyman ought to be a
little of an architect as he is a little of a lawyer and a
little of a doctor ; but as a little knowledge is proverbially
a dangerous thing, he must keep his within safe bounds,
and neither ruin his clients, poison his patients, nor spoil
his church. And, whether he depends on his own re
sources or not, he ought at least to know what is right and
what is wrong in the general character of any work that
is done in his church.
In church restoration every one who looks
upon it as an important and religious work
will naturally set before himself certain broad church re
storation.
principles which are to rule the design and the
execution. The true church architect in restoring or re
generating the work of his predecessors takes a much
more comprehensive view than that which would be taken
by any of the classes ordinarily interested in the building.
(1) He will seek to make the Lord s house sound and safe
as a building; (2) he wishes to retain all that can be
374 MISCELLANEOUS RESPONSIBILITIES.
retained as a memorial of the skill, taste, and piety of
those who have gone before him in the work ; (3) he
desires that the church may be, in all matters that fall
within his province, a pleasant place to those who frequent
it ; and (4) above all, he strives to make it a place worthy
of Him to whom it is dedicated ; that whether humble and
poor, or rich and beautiful, it may be reverently fitted to
be used to the glory of God.
Very few clergymen are likely to be com
petent to undertake the responsibility of fabric
restoration to any great extent. Questions as to the safety or
the reconstruction of roofs, aisles, towers, or chancels, should
be submitted to a good architect, and the execution of
repairs directed by him. I shall only venture, therefore,
to give a few recommendations on this part of the subject.
The first, that a local architect be engaged, if possible ; since
he is more likely than one from a distance to understand the
character of local architecture ; and also the local details and
customs of the country respecting stone, timber, &c., which
may be of importance as a matter of economy, and atten
tion to which gives a certain " point " to the work. The
second suggestion is, that substantial repair of the fabric
ought to precede all permanent decoration where there
are not funds to carry on both contemporaneously ;
although, of course, many temporary and inexpensive
arrangements may be made, if necessary, for the better
performance of Divine service. Thirdly, it is well to be
patient, and not to expect to get every thing done in our
own time. Those who hurry over the work of church
MISCELLANEOUS RESPONSIBILITIES. 375
restoration are in some danger of doing a work in an
inferior manner, which might have been done perfectly if
small means had not been spread over so large a surface.
In dealing with old churches it often becomes n
Respect for
an embarrassing question how far restoration work of pre-
may be carried without disrespect to what is
found existing. Antiquarians of an extreme school look
with an unfavourable eye on all that goes beyond a
mere provision for arresting decay, and stigmatize church
restoration as church destruction. They will tell you, for
example, that it is better to leave a decayed capital in its
place if it will just do its work still, than to replace it by a
new one ; or, again, that if it is absolutely unsafe not to
replace it, you should leave the new stone an uncarved
block if you cannot ascertain what was the design of the
old one. Such crotchets are inconsistent with the principle
that the church belongs to one generation as much as to
another ; as also with the still higher one that it should
ever be made worthy of being called the Lord s house. It
may be well to wait till we can carve stone better, if we
cannot yet carve it well enough ; but to place that which
is positively ugly in a church when we can put that which
is beautiful is a dishonour to God, and a very odd way of
showing respect for the original architect of the church.
Every church is manifestly intended for use. And as
the pastor s office has a twofold relation towards God on
the one hand, and men on the other, so also it is with the
building in which he ministers. A constant respect for
this principle will be a very useful guide towards solving
in detail the problems that will arise in the course of
376 MISCELLANEOUS RESPONSIBILITIES.
church restoration. It is not necessary that every thing
should look perfectly smooth and new, but it is desirable
that nothing should look greatly mutilated, imperfect, or
decayed. Many things also were done to churches in the
last age, which kept very little in view their use either for
the glory of God or the convenience of men. There are
chancels in which costly marble tombs all but elbow the
Lord s table and the clergy out of their place : and naves,
again, in which they occupy to the supposed honour of the
dead almost as much space as is left for the use of the
living. No one likes to destroy such memorials, or to
remove them from the church. The best thing to do with
them would be to use them up in fitting adornment of the
church, there being often much valuable marble employed
in the construction of such monuments. If this cannot be
done, and they cannot be removed to any more suitable
position, the next best thing would be to give them
honourable burial in the graves of the persons whom they
commemorate.
Setting aside all extraordinary cases, there is one broad
principle on which a Christian antiquarian should act in
church restoration ; and that is to preserve every thing
that does not interfere with the stability of the fabric, the
purposes of Divine worship, or the necessary accommoda
tion of the congregation.
The clergyman who takes a prominent part
tio n ~ a in the restoration of a church ought to be very-
careful in guarding against any appearance of
mere self-gratification, or of doing it as a mere matter of
"dilettantism." So little heart, so little self-devotion, so
MISCELLANEOUS RESPONSIBILITIES. 377
much self-will and personal fancy have been shown that a
clergyman has laid himself open to the charge of pulling
his church to pieces (to use an old man s quaint expres
sion) "as a girl would her baby-house." Nothing is more
to be reprobated than this obtrusion of self in the work of
church restoration. Reverence, loving care for the honour
of God, earnest reality, these are qualifications necessary
for every true church restorer ; but for none more so than
for that one who is the special guardian of the house of
God. Dilettante church-restoring clergymen generally find
bitterness, quarrelling, and disgust attend all their work.
They are apt also to " restore " in such a way as to banish
every shadow of interest, un spiritualize every artistic touch,
and chill every ray of feeling. But those who show and
prove that they have high motives for the work under
taken, that their chief aim is to make the church worthy
of Christ s presence ; who show that nothing is beneath
their notice if it at all conduces to this object; that
thought, reality, and religious fitness are the means by
which they hope to promote the glory of God in church
restoration; these will probably escape opposition alto
gether, or else will very soon live it down : and it is not
unlikely that their very opponents will be won over when
they are found to be so true and earnest in their intentions.
It is very important in re-arranging any
church to secure the free use of the nave to The nave
the congregation. The seats should be plain, g re gation.
and without doors. The less there is of any
thing like appropriation of seats, the more will the church
be used, especially by the poor. Chairs have been found
378 MISCELLANEOUS RESPONSIBILITIES.
to answer exceedingly well in some churches; and they
are always useful in supplementing lessmoveable seats, for
they offer the means of using the whole nave without
cramming it with fixed seats in every corner, and contract
ing the passages to an extreme of narrowness. Whatever
seats are used, ample space should be provided for kneel
ing (which will be about thirty-two inches from back to
back), and kneeling cushions should be distributed in all
the seats, if possible, these being much better than fixed
boards, or than the old-fashioned high hassocks. The chief
object in fitting up the nave of any church should be to
afford the greatest possible facility to parishioners for
coming to their church as their spiritual home ; and for
carrying out when they are there those duties of praise,
prayer, and silent attention which form their part in the
Divine service of the Lord s house.
Not less important is it that the chancel of
The chancel ever y church should be appropriated to the
for the mi
nisters of purpose for which it is intended. Too fre-
vice. quently it is used as a sort of hall or rectory
pew, or for the crowding up of a Sunday school
for which no other seats can be found through the working
of the pew system in the nave. But any such use of tho
chancel is inconsistent with the proper performance of
Divine service and with the law of the Church of England.
By that law, (recently affirmed by one of the Queen s
judges,) the clergyman, whether Rector, Vicar, or Per
petual Curate, has entire control of the chancel, and of
every entrance into it, as the place appointed for him and
for those who assist him in the performance of Divine
MISCELLANEOUS RESPONSIBILITIES. 379
service. It is, in fact, a great and very unpractical mis
take to put a " reading-desk " in the nave, or to put the
singers there either. The nave is built for the congrega
tion, the chancel for those who lead the congregation in
the service of Praise and Prayer, and for the celebration
of the Holy Communion. The western part or choir is
for the former purpose, the eastern or sacrarium for the
latter ; and no arrangement is better suited than this for
the service of the Church of England. The pastor who
succeeds in restoring his chancel to its proper use will find
himself well repaid for any difficulty or trouble he may
have had to go through in effecting his object. For, in
practice, nothing so elevates the tone of Divine worship,
or draws the people on to a practical recognition of its
true principles, as such a restoration. If it is desired to
represent clearly to the eye that the church is primarily
the house of the Lord, and not merely a meeting-house of
men, it cannot be more effectually done ; nor is there any
method of carrying out the services of Morning and
Evening Prayer which is so rational, so convenient, or so
in accordance with the spirit of the Church of England.
Next to the questions of substantial repair,
Decoration.
and decorous arrangement, the reverent adorn
ment of the Lord s house will be the most important
and difficult subject for a church restorer s consideration.
The artistic ornamentation of churches has made great
progress within the last few years, and every year s ex
perience is leading in the direction of improvement. In
respect to it, more than to any other part of church
restoration, therefore, we may be sure that it is well to be
380 MISCELLANEOUS RESPONSIBILITIES.
somewhat patient, and not to fill our sacred buildings with
crude decorations that a future generation will look upon
with just distaste and regret.
Every church will require ornament in a greater or less
degree, on the floor, the walls, the windows, and perhaps
the roof; and a general principle for all such ornamenta
tion is, that its richness and devotional character should
increase as it approaches the chancel and the Lord s
table, culminating at last in the immediate vicinity of
the latter. A combination of marble and tiles upon the
floors of churches, distemper colour on the roof, and fresco
or mosaic on the walls, are doubtless what church re
storers who carefully consider the progress of art in Eng
land will aim at. Tiles and painted zinc plates upon the
walls of any building are what they will scrupulously avoid,
for nothing can look more vulgar and inartistic. Where
really good wall decorations of a permanent character,
(whether for the wall behind the Lord s table or elsewhere,)
cannot be at present afforded, there is no better substitute
than some of those textile fabrics which have been
brought to so much perfection for the purpose of church
hangings. They satisfy the eye, give a devotional ap
pearance to a church or chancel wherever they are placed,
and add much to the warmth and to the used or inhabited
look which a church ought to wear.
Let it be further suggested that in any such decorations
it is desirable not to make a too free use of sacred sym
bols, such as the monogram of our Lord s name, or the
Cross. There are churches in which one is met by a
repetition of such symbols that becomes quite irreverent :
MISCELLANEOUS RESPONSIBILITIES. 381
crosses to stand on, crosses to sit on, crosses to kneel on,
crosses on the ends of benches and on the fronts of pulpits,
crosses on the book-markers, crosses to hold the candles,
or to burn the gas ; in short, every where, probably, but
in the place where a devout eye would wish to see the
sacred symbol prominent, where it would be most closely
connected with the commemoration of our Lord s Passion.
Let the cross, and all other sacred symbols, be used with
feeling and devotion, and under such influence be placed
in appropriate situations where they may convey a real
meaning, and not be used as mere ornaments, as we
might use the form of an ordinary leaf or flower.
Stained glass must almost always be left in the hands
of the artist, and it is therefore desirable to select one
whose reverence and artistic judgment have been proved.
It may, however, be suggested that a more thoughtful
arrangement of subjects might often be adopted than that
which we see in many churches. (1) In the east window
we naturally place the Crucifixion, or the Ascension, as
especially showing forth the atoning work of our blessed
Lord. Even better subjects, where the window is large
enough, are the two which more generally show forth the
Incarnation, the " Jesse " and the " Te Deum " window.
(2) In the other windows of the chancel the subjects
should be drawn from the work of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Head of the Church in heaven and in earth. (3) In
the nave we may appropriately use those subjects which
set forth the glory of Christ in His Apostles and other
Saints ; except for the west window, in which the Lord
of Saints should again be pourtrayed as giving an unity to
382 MISCELLANEOUS RESPONSIBILITIES.
the whole design, and proclaiming His presence in the
congregation as well as at the altar.
Let none think that time and thought applied to such
church restoration is time and thought wasted. Our
churches are not less truly the place of God s presence
than the temple and the tabernacle were ; and if the
Lord was pleased to reveal a scheme of beauty in all its
details for the latter, it cannot but be for His honour that
we should endeavour to follow the Divine lead in His
house of the more glorious dispensation, in which the
shadows are changed to realities.
. Organs.
In the building and rebuilding, and in the restoration
and re-arrangement of churches, there is almost always an
"organ question" to be decided. At such times the
clergyman of a parish ought to be able to take his part
in the decision of the question, as one who knows what he
is talking about, as well as one who officially is chiefly
concerned. He should have made up his mind what
an organ is required for, what are the general principles
of its construction, and what application of those prin
ciples will be most suitable to the particular case which
he has in view, that of his own church. The instrument
will also be an object of importance, and of some anxiety
to him at all ordinary times ; and even if the question
of a new organ should never come before him, it will
be well for him to make himself acquainted with the
instrument, that he may be able to exercise an intelligent
control over its use in Divine service.
MISCELLANEOUS RESPONSIBILITIES. 383
The questions to be decided in setting up a new organ
generally resolve themselves under the three heads of
expense, fitness, and position. Without any very detailed
knowledge of the instrument, a clergyman may generally
make up his mind how to decide these for the best or
at least the two latter on certain principles which are
founded in common sense, and a perception of what is
right and necessary for the purpose of Divine service.
Organ builders and organists are sometimes apt, indeed,
to "pooh, pooh, 3 the clergyman in organ matters as if he
was going beyond the sphere of his authority and know
ledge, by presuming to make his voice heard ; as if, in
fact, the construction and use of the instrument were
mysteries which none but themselves are competent to
deal with. But though a clergyman may be able neither
to build an organ, nor to perform upon it when built,
his general authority over every thing that is to be done
or used in Divine service imposes upon him the duty
of supervising organs and organists as well as other
things and persons ; and he may very easily acquire
sufficient knowledge to carry out this duty faithfully
and well. And, without imputing worse motives than
those which ordinarily influence human nature, it may
be mentioned that there are some reasons why both organ
builders and organists should wish to keep matters en
tirely in their own hands. It is the interest of the builder
to make his instruments as profitable as he can to him
self ; and it is a custom of the trade to allow ten per cent,
commission to all organists who bring grist to the organ
builder s mill, by transmitting orders for instruments.
384 MISCELLANEOUS RESPONSIBILITIES.
It is only lately, and even now only with the higher class
of builders, that these reasons have ceased to operate
against those interests respecting which the clergyman
will have the chief anxiety, the interests of the church
and of the service which are entrusted to his care. In
dependently of self-interested motives, both builders and
organists, if unchecked by a resolute and intelligent en
forcement of religious, architectural, and financial con
siderations, are naturally prone to provide exaggerated
capabilities for musical display.
In laying down a plan for an organ, then, care
should be taken that money is expended only on such
things as will make the instrument most effective for its
object.
(1) No expensive mechanism, such as pneumatic action,
should be allowed unless there is an unlimited supply
of funds for the original outlay, and a good income to
fall back upon for repairs. Some organs cost as much
annually in repairs as would suffice to provide another
curate for the church in which they are placed.
(2) In the choice of stops there should be 110 super
abundance of reeds and " fancy " stops to the deterioration
of those which are really important and necessary to the
solemnity and grandeur of tone, and which are therefore
denominated "foundation" stops. Small stops are pro
fitable to the organ builder ; they add easily to the num
ber, and therefore to the apparent size and power of the
organ ; and they offer a means for young ladies school-
music-master organists to "show off;" all which reasons
have too often influenced the character of church organs.
MISCELLANEOUS RESPONSIBILITIES. 385
It is much better to spend money in securing good metal
and completeness for the open diapason, in which more
than in any other single stop the real grandeur of the
organ resides, than to spend it on vox humana, or any
other elegant but comparatively trivial fancies.
(3) If the organ is not large, it is unnecessary to have
a swell ; which is, in fact, a second organ added at con
siderable expense, and but seldom used in comparison
with the great organ, or main body of the instrument.
(4) The instrument should be true and honest in its
structure. Its tone should not be sacrificed, (as it may
be in no small degree,) to the aesthetic arrangement of
the pipes. The latter should stand, as far as possible,
"on their own wind," show their faces honestly, and
form the essential part in the appearance of the instru
ment. Pipes that are painted fine, but will not speak,
should never on any account be allowed.
(5) The chancel is undoubtedly the proper place for an
organ. But whether there, in the nave, or in an organ-
chamber, it should always be to the east of the con
gregation, and where its sound will naturally mingle
with that of the leading singers, that is, the official
choir.
(6) The organ and its case should form part of the
church to the eye, and not an excrescence. It is even
worth while to make some alteration in a church, when
an organ is inserted, rather than fail to accomplish this
most desirable end. If the instrument is placed in a
separate organ-chamber, some of the pipes may be brought
into an arch in the chancel, where they may be made
c c
386 MISCELLANEOUS RESPONSIBILITIES.
an effective architectural feature in the church. On a
large scale, the best example of such treatment is the
beautiful organ in the unequalled choir of Ely Cathedral,
which is placed partly in the triforium, and partly as a
great corbel projecting from it. On a small scale, the
same thing has been effected at St. Thomas s Church,
Oxford, at Upton Scudamore and elsewhere, by hanging
the organ against the wall. A reversed action is some
times used, which places the organist in such a position
that he ranges with the singers. If this can be well
managed, it is a most excellent arrangement ; but it must
not be forgotten that it complicates the machinery of
the organ, makes the touch heavy, and increases the
expense.
(7) Care should be taken to secure as free access as
possible to every part .of the instrument, and to make
provision against damp. In a well-ventilated church
(and the best mode of ventilating it is to use it daily)
there is less danger of injury to an organ from damp
than in one closely shut up ; but the presence of an in
strument is one reason in addition to many others why a
church should have a warming apparatus.
(8) No clergyman should put a new organ in his church
without first reading the Rev. John Baron s valuable
book on the subject 1 . In this volume the construction
1 Scudamore Organs ; or, Practical Hints respecting Organs for Village
Churches and Small Chancels, on improved Principles. By Ilcv. John
Baron, M.A., Rector of Upton Scudamore, Wilts. With Designs by G.
E. Street, F.S.A., and Suggestive Ancient Examples. Bell and Daldy,
London.
MISCELLANEOUS RESPONSIBILITIES. 387
of organs is made plain to the unmechanical reader, and
most excellent advice is given with reference to the
position which the instrument should occupy. Mr. Baron
is the originator of a class of organs of a most efficient
kind, which range in price from 261. to 100/., and of
which some hundreds have been set up in village and
small town churches by Mr. Willis and other organ
builders. They have become well known as Scudamore
Organs, taking that name from Mr. Baron s parish of
Upton Scudamore, in the church of which parish the first
of them was erected.
In conclusion, let the clergyman be advised always to
maintain his authority as director of Divine service in
organ matters as in all else. Whether he makes a prac
tice of personally appointing what is to be sung or not,
all should be subject to his control, and done by his
authority only. Printed forms, to be filled up for every
Sunday, are very useful in preventing unpleasant cavils,
especially if sets for a year are bound together in separate
volumes for the clergyman and the organist, and referred
to as the general authority for the purpose. Difficulties
about the choice of tunes may also be overcome by the
adoption of some standard book both for chants and
hymns. At present we have nothing better than Hel-
more s " Psalter and Canticles Noted " for the former ;
while, for the latter, " Hymns Ancient and Modern " will
probably be the best we shall have for this generation.
But Ouseley s Psalter, and Mercer s Prayer Book and
Psalter, may be more suitable in some churches ; and
there are also Hymnals, published by the Christian
cc 2
388 MISCELLANEOUS RESPONSIBILITIES.
Knowledge Society, and the Rev. R. R. Chope, which
have the music and words on the same page, and are
compiled with careful regard to the requirements of our
Services.
. Belfries, Bell-ringers, and Bells,
There is many a fine peal of bells of which much less
is made than might be, for the purpose which they ought
to serve, through an idea which possesses many clergy
men that bells and bell-ringing are mysteries into which
they cannot hope to penetrate ; and that, however bad
matters may be in connexion with them, they will only
become worse by the clergyman s interference. A peal
of bells is, however, a very important and valuable part
of the ornamcnta of a church ; and it is so desirable that
as much good should be got out of it as possible, (and,
at the same time, as little evil,) that I have thought it
useful to append a few suggestions on the subject.
1. It should be remembered that the law
control of gives to the clergyman the fullest powers he
the clergy- can re q u i re> permissive and restrictive, as to
the use of church bells. The right of entry to
every part of the church is vested in the incumbent, and
the keys of the church are delivered into his hands
at his induction to show that they are under his exclusive
charge by law. Ilence no person, not even the church
wardens, can legally have access to the bells or touch the
bell-ropes, except by his permission or authority. This
fact imposes upon an incumbent the duty of knowing
something about the belfry, the bells and the bell-ringers ;
MISCELLANEOUS RESPONSIBILITIES. 389
for, of course, he is ultimately responsible, in foro con-
scicntice at least, for the use or abuse of the first two,
and for the conduct or misconduct of the third as church
servants. It may therefore be expedient for him to con
sider whether he ought not to bring this legal right and
duty clearly into view.
The indecorum and profligacy which have been con
nected with bell-ringing are notorious, and ought on no
account to be tolerated by a faithful clergyman. But as
an incumbent was lately dragged into the Court of Arches
by the bell-ringers of the parish, (where his authority was
however clearly set forth by the Judge 2 ,) it seems better
that an opportunity should be taken of asserting this
authority firmly, if necessary, and of showing all con
cerned that it does, as I have said, impose a duty as well
as a right upon the clergyman of the parish.
It is alleged by antiquarians that the clergy
used anciently to ring the church bells with run ~ wit ^.
their own hands, that they afterwards em- ou * his . i
authority.
ployed poor persons out of charity as their
substitutes, and that eventually regular ringers were ap
pointed as permanent church servants. And as the
primary purpose of church bells is that of giving warning
of Divine service, it is clear that the ringing of them
must, as every other arrangement connected with Divine
service, be under the absolute and unfettered control
2 The churchwardens, the parish clerk, and the ringers were ordered
not to ring the bells in future without permission of the Vicar, and were
condemned in the costs of the suit. Date of Dr. Lushington s decision,
June 18, 1862.
390 MISCELLANEOUS RESPONSIBILITIES.
of the person on whom the responsibility of its perform
ance devolves. That this is the principle of the law is
shown by the few provisions which are made respecting
bells. Upon the curate, that is the person having cure of
souls, is imposed the duty of causing a bell to be tolled
a convenient time before he begins Divine service, that
the people may come to hear God s Word and to pray with
him. Nor is any ringing to be permitted at any time
without good cause allowed by the minister and the
churchwardens 3 . Thus every incumbent is made respon
sible for the proper use of the bells as he is for the proper
use of the church ; a responsibility indicated by one of the
ceremonies used at his induction, when he assumed the
custody of the bells by tolling one of them, as he was
vested with the freehold of the church and the right of
entry by receiving the keys and locking himself within
the building.
2. There are two ways of sounding church
modes of bells, chiming and ringing ; and it would be
sounding we ^ f or everv clergyman to make himself
familiar with the difference, and with the effect
which each is likely to have upon the bells and the fabric
with which they are connected. In chiming, the bell is
swung on its axis to the extent of a little more than half
its diameter, the clapper remaining nearly motionless
until struck by the bell, when it rebounds against the side
of the latter. In ringing, on the other hand, the bells are
first of all inverted by a succession of swings, so as to be
3 Concerning the Service of the Church. Canon 15.
MISCELLANEOUS RESPONSIBILITIES. 391
retained with their mouths upward; and then each is
pulled down with sufficient force to make it oscillate into
that inverted position again, the sound being produced by
the violent contact of clapper and bell at the moment when
the revolution is completed.
From this description it will be seen that chiming is a
simple and easy way of using church bells, while ringing
requires great skill and considerable strength. The one
causes hardly any noticeable vibration of the bell-chamber,
while the other rocks every stone of it 4 . A little practice
will enable any one to swing a large bell to and fro, as in
chiming, without fatiguing exertion ; but to ring the same
bell the ringer must have had much previous practice,
must strip off his coat, and work at his ringing as a rower
works at his oar. This hard work is obviously unseemly
when the ringers stand on the floor of the church (as they
ought) in the sight of a congregation assembling for
Divine service ; it also tires the ringers, and indisposes
them for coming into the church when service begins, and
they are consequently apt to think that their part in
Divine service is over when that of others is commencing.
Nor must it be forgotten that the labour of bell-ringing
is one chief cause of the drinking to which it leads, and
which has long been one of the scandals of the belfry.
For these reasons it is desirable that bells
. Chimes best
should always be chimed, not rung, for Divine for Divine
service. And if ringing is thought expedient
on festival occasions, it should end half an hour before
4 If the bell frame touches the walls, this rocking does great injury to
the fabric, and thus many churches have been damaged.
392 MISCELLANEOUS RESPONSIBILITIES.
service begins, the remainder of the time being occupied
with chiming only.
3. The clergyman should establish a good
Rules for n -, f .
belfry. set * rules lor the bell-ringers, taking care that
they are really observed. With the permission
of Archdeacon Bickersteth, I have reprinted at the end of
this volume 5 a set of such rules published in his Charge to
the Archdeaconry of Buckingham, in 1855. I have also
another set, used in the parish of Clyst St. George, under
the high authority of the Rev. H. T. Ellacombe ; and these
go rather more into detail than Dr. Bickersteth s.
Dan er f ^ -P n( lerous as bells are, they may be irre-
injuring parably injured, almost as easily as if they
bolls.
were made of glass, by careless or injudicious
treatment. It is said that the largest bell may be cracked
by tying a piece of twine round its soundbow before it is
rung. Whether this is so or not, it is certain that many
large bells have been destroyed by an improper manner of
tolling them for funerals. To spare their labour, and
make this tolling or chiming more easy even than it is,
sextons have been in the habit of twisting the bell- rope
round the clapper, and thus pulling it instead of the bell.
By this means a sharp blow has often cracked a fine tenor,
and made it useless until recast at an expense of 60 /. or
70/. Mr. Ellacombe has printed a list of sixteen tenor
and several smaller bells so ruined in London alone within
the last forty years.
Chiming At the same time it is very desirable to chime
the whole of the bells for Divine service when-
8 Sec Appendix H.
MISCELLANEOUS RESPONSIBILITIES. 393
ever it is celebrated; and thus to make their sound
most familiar to the people as summoning them to the
worship of God. And as ringers are generally labour
ing men, who can be in their places (as a rule) only on
Sunday, some easy plan should be adopted by which choir
boys or the elder children of the school may be safely
entrusted with this duty. By far the best of all such plans
is one which was devised by the Rev. H. T. Ellacombe so
long ago as 1822, and set at work by him in the church of
Bitton, Gloucestershire, where it is still in use. A descrip
tion of this apparatus is given in the inventor s " Remarks
on Belfries and Ringers, and Appendix on Chiming," and
will also be found with the engraving, in the Ecclesio-
logist, vol. xxv. p. 129. This apparatus may be fitted up
at the cost of 11. for each bell; and when so fitted the
whole peal of six or eight bells may be chimed with ease
by a single person. The striking balls are so arranged
that they do not in the least interfere with the ringing of
the bells, and the chiming ropes may be brought on to the
floor of the church even if the bells are rung from a bell-
chamber higher up the tower. There are other plans for
effecting the same object, but none of them are so perfect
in their action as this. Nor indeed can any such apparatus
produce the fine effect of the more legitimate swing of the
bell itself.
5. It is useful to make some definite distinc-
. n i r. . Final five
tion in the mode of chiming lor the five minutes minutes
immediately preceding service ; and a good way
of doing this is to use two bells only during that time.
394 MISCELLANEOUS RESPONSIBILITIES.
After this, fifty or sixty strokes may be given on the tenor
bell by way of " grace " to late comers.
. Churchyards.
If the clergy of past days had taken more personal
interest in the care of our churchyards, most of the abuses
which led to their being taken out of the hands of the Church
in so many places might have been prevented, for there is
hardly any part of the consecrated enclosure over which
they have always had so much authority. The evils of
intra-mural burial have been extravagantly exaggerated B ,
but there were many indecencies to say nothing of irre
verences committed by the sextons of the last age which
could not have escaped the eye of a watchful clergyman,
and which he ought to have put an end to as soon as they
were discovered. As in so many other cases, neglect and
indifference on the part of the ecclesiastical authorities
brought on the interference of the civil power in matters
that did not come naturally within their province; and
the consequence has been that the burial of the dead has
become dissociated from the place in which the living
worship God in all large towns ; and has, under the
cemetery system, lost much of the solemn meaning which
the Church had attached to it in her office and customs.
It would be well for the clergy who yet have churchyards
left to them, to endeavour so to control their use, super-
6 Archdeacon Hale showed this in a Charge which he delivered on the
subject in 1855. It is entitled, " Intra-mural Burial in England not injurious
to the public Health : its Abolition injurious to Religion and Morals."
Riviugtons. London.
MISCELLANEOUS RESPONSIBILITIES. 395
intend their care, and connect them in the popular feeling
with the worship carried on inside the church, that the
divorce of the burial-ground from the place of Divine
worship may be unwelcome to the popular mind, and only
submitted to in cases of extreme necessity.
Much may be done towards this end by encouraging a
more religious and church-like system of funerals than
that which has become common among us. As Christians
sorrow not " as others which have no hope," so signs of
hope should be mingled with those of mourning in all
funeral arrangements, in the character of the service, and
in the churchyard memorial. And yet it is singular to
remember how utterly unhopeful except for the bare
words of the service all the ceremonies connected with
burial had become until the Church revival of our own
day, and how much this is still the case in the majority of
funerals 7 .
Wherever the choral form of the Burial Service has
been re-introduced, it has been found to make a very
religious impression upon all concerned. It would not
be difficult to use it nearly always in country parishes,
omitting it only in those cases in which its omission was
requested by the friends of the deceased, or when it was
quite impossible (as it sometimes may be) to get the
singers together ; and on special occasions it has been
7 A curious illustration of this is given by the staves carried before the
body, or held at the door of the dwelling-house. The normal form of these
is that of a cross, over which a veil of crape is thrown as a sign of mourning ;
but the upper limb of the cross has disappeared, and with it the significant
symbol of trust in the Cross-bearer Who said, " I am the Resurrection and
the Life."
396 MISCELLANEOUS RESPONSIBILITIES.
used with the best results in town cemeteries. En
couragement should also be given to the reception of the
Holy Communion by the mourners, either at the time
of the funeral or on the Sunday following, for the pur
pose of cementing between them and the departed that
communion of saints in the visible and the invisible body
of Christ, which forms so great and true a consolation to
the mourner 8 .
It would be well for the clergyman occasionally to
notice whether proper attention is given by the sexton
to the depth of the graves. The law, "Dust thou art,
and unto dust shalt thou return," is not carried out in
metaphor, but in the most literal fact ; and it is, perhaps,
an illustration of this fact, or in natural agreement with
it, that humus, or virgin earth, certainly and unfailingly
arrests all exhalations from the body deposited in its
embrace. Four feet of earth above the coffin will prevent
any escape of such exhalations, not by mechanical pres
sure, but by chemical process ; that which would of itself
pass into the air becoming assimilated to, and entering
into combination with the earth. This fact should be
generally known, as the knowledge of it would often
prevent or allay groundless fears as to the unwholesome-
ness of churchyards.
8 Having before mentioned the advantage of providing christening
clothes for lending to the poor, I may ako here say that it has been found
very useful to have a pall for their use at funerals. Two or three sizes
should be provided, if possible, of such material as can be afforded. They
should be of a violet colour rather than black ; and with a good deal of
white in the decoration. If the cross is used, it is best introduced as a
plain broad band of wliitc across the whole length and breadth of the
pall.
MISCELLANEOUS RESPONSIBILITIES. 397
Still further to do away with any ghastliness about
the sleeping-places of the faithful, some care should be
bestowed upon the trimming of the grass, the planting
and tending of flowers in moderation, and the suitable
character of the gravestones and their inscriptions. In
all these arrangements the clergyman has unlimited local
authority; and by using that authority wisely he may
establish the best feelings respecting their churchyard
in the minds of his parishioners ; and help them, also,
more closely to realize the words, " I believe in the resur
rection of the body."
. Sanitary suggestions.
Some considerable help is expected from the clergy
of these days by sanitary reformers. No one else sees
so much of those who need admonition on matters con
nected with it, except indeed the medical man of the
district ; and it is a common assumption of English
society, may it long continue to be so, and more justly
so, that none have so much influence with the poor as
the clergy.
I would not have the pastor injure his influence by
officiousness and meddling. The poor man s house is
his castle as much as the rich man s, and the one is quite
as tenacious of his right to do what he likes with himself
and his belongings as the other. But there are many
occasions on which the clergyman may well come for
ward prominently as the advocate of plans for improving
the dwellings of the poor, by promoting better drainage
and water supply, and encouraging clean and healthy
398 MISCELLANEOUS RESPONSIBILITIES.
habits. Cleanliness is a great promoter of self-respect,
and self-respect is the handmaid of religion.
There is also a large border-land on which sanitary
reform and moral reform stand together, especially in
the matter of over-crowded dwellings, whether in town
or country. Wherever, therefore, the clergyman can
induce landlords to provide more cottage accommodation
on their estates ; or capitalists to start " model " lodging-
houses, they are doing an incalculably good work.
Scarcely less so when Baths and Washhouses, Public
Kitchens, and Dining Halls for labouring people are
established by their means. Every thing, in fact, that
the clergy can do to promote cleanliness and health they
will find to clear the way wonderfully for moral refor
mation and the practice of religion. If " cleanliness is
next to goodliness " or beauty, it is not far off from
godliness, seeing that it brings men nearer to the state
of perfection in which He originally created them Who
looked on His work, and " behold it was very good."
. Money for Church purposes,
Another of the responsibilities thrown upon the modern
clergyman is that of getting money from his people for
schools, church restorations, parish charities, the pay
ment of the choir, missionary and other societies, and
not unfrequently for the support of additional clergy. It
is mostly a very difficult matter. The laity have not yet,
as a body, been aroused to a sense of their responsibilities ;
and while there will always be found a few who give
liberally and willingly, the mass require a great deal
MISCELLANEOUS RESPONSIBILITIES. 399
of begging, and some excitement before they can be per
suaded to give at all. At the same time the zeal of the
clergy is leading them to try and meet the spiritual
necessities of the times vigorously ; and their endeavours
are attended by a large expenditure of money, in which
their own contributions are often more conspicuous than
those of the wealthy laity.
I must leave it to others to suggest any royal road,
if such should ever be discovered, for getting over our
difficulties in this direction. The "voluntary system"
is already carried out in the Church of England to a
much greater extent than in any of the sects which boast
so loudly on the subject ; but our necessities are becoming
greater every year, and our financial plans seem very
inadequate to meet them. There are, however, many
hopeful signs ; and it may be observed that wherever
the system of money-getting for Church purposes is
organized on principles which are in general analogy
to the Church system, there the greatest real success is
met with. It should, therefore, be the effort of every
clergyman to bring forward as strongly as he can, both
by word and act, the principle that money given for
Church purposes is money offered to God. I do not think
it is superstitious to suppose that money so offered does
really carry a blessing with it, and go farther than that
which is given or taken merely as a matter of business ;
for such certainly seems to be the teaching of Holy Scrip
ture on the subject.
To carry out this principle, then, (1) let all collections
that are made in church be formally offered at the altar.
400 MISCELLANEOUS RESPONSIBILITIES.
Morning collections arc mostly made in the ordinary
way of the Offertory as appointed for the Holy Com
munion, but afternoon or evening collections are often
carried straight to the vestry ; yet there is no good
reason for this difference, except that the Offertory is
the only mode of collecting money in church which is
directly enjoined by the Prayer Book. Looking at the
principle indicated by the Holy Communion Offertory,
it seems right and proper that every collection should
be laid upon the altar by the clergyman ; and that he
should accompany the act with a short form of silent
prayer, dedicating the money to God. After so doing,
the collect, " Prevent us, Lord," preceding the blessing
is very appropriate ; and its use after an act, instead of
before, is in strict analogy with its position in the Ordi
nation services.
As far as is possible, all money to be used for Church
purposes should be thus formally offered. A mental appro
priation of it to God is no doubt made by many of the
givers, but all the teaching of the Prayer Book leads us
to expect that blessings follow upon formal ministerial
acts, and that such an act will be a fitting complement to
the private mental dedication. In cases, too, where no
such mental dedication has been thought of, or where
the money has been obtained by some means (such as
bazaars) which cannot be called sinful, and yet are cer
tainly not Church methods, a formal offering will go far
towards purging it of its worldliness, and cleansing it
for sacred use. In a commercial age like ours it is more
necessary than ever to impress upon our people the no-
MISCELLANEOUS RESPONSIBILITIES. 401
cessity of ever having God to be with them in what
they undertake for His service ; that their undertakings
may not be the stretching forth of an unhallowed arm
for the support of His ark, but orderly and faithful efforts
made not for a right and holy purpose alone, but also in
a right and holy manner.
Dd
APPENDIX.
A.
Assistant Curates.
HAVING referred in the text to the difference of responsibility
falling upon "beneficed and unbeneficed clergymen, I will add
here a few particulars relative to the sudden and embarrassing
increase of the latter in the position of assistant curates.
From the time of the Reformation until that of William III.,
no clergyman was considered to have actual cure of souls ex
cept by institution, although from mediseval times there were
" annuals " and " parish priests " who acted as the deputies
of corporate and individual rectors incapable of carrying out
the duties of the benefices of which they held possession *.
This is plainly shown so late as the time of Stillingfleet, who
writes thus in his " Duties and Rights of the Parochial
1 See Johnson s English Canons, ii. 40. Wilkins Concilia, i. 627. Statutes
at large 4 Hen. IV. c. 12. Caxton s jEsop, date 1478; and a singular old
book of not too nice reading, " Epistola de miseria curatorum," of about
the same date, which contains curious illustrations of the life of the
parochial clergy in mediaeval times. Appendix, p. 430, of Bishop Kennett s
Parochial Antiquities of Ambrosden, it is stated that John de Capolla, an
acolyte to the day of his death, was rector of that parish for 33 years,
keeping a " Parish Priest " to do his work.
Dd 2
404 APPENDIX.
Clergy:" " The care of souls committed to persons among us
is not an absolute, indefinite, and unaccountable thing; but
is limited as to place, persons, and duties, which are incumbent
upon them. They are to teach the people committed to their
charge ; by whom? by the bishop when he gives institution V
In strict legal sense, an unbeneficed curate is still a spiritual
person licensed by the bishop to attend the cure of souls in the
absence of the person to whom it is formally committed. So
in the 69th Canon, where punishment is decreed for deferring
to christen children who are in danger, it is "provided, that
where there is a curate, or a substitute, this constitution shall
not extend to the parson or vicar himself, but to the curate
or substitute present." From this it is plain that " where
there is a curate," is equivalent to " where the parson or vicar
is non-resident," and therefore cannot know that a dying child
requires to be baptized. Of a similar bearing are some words in
the 113th Canon. Acts of Parliament also, in which curates
are mentioned, speak of them almost invariably in the same
way ; and the extremely few indications of any thing like
curates to resident rectors which they contain show that they
have never come fully under legal cognizance.
The fact is, that assistant curates to resident rectors or vicars
scarcely existed before the last quarter of a century. Writing
in 1833, the late Mr. Perceval, author of " The Apostolical
Succession," says, " If on all these different grounds the ap
pointment of assistant curates would be so desirable, why, it
2 By 1 & 2 Gulielm. IV. c. 38, every church or chapel, to which an eccle
siastical district is assigned, is to be taken as a perpetual curacy; and
licence thereto is to operate as institution to a benefice, the clergyman
so licensed having all the privileges of the beneficed clergy. The bishops
of the day seem to have overlooked the fact, that institution gives a solemn
mission to the souls of a special locality as well as a legal right to the
endowments of the Church, or they would surely have established the
epiritual analogy between rectors and perpetual curates as well as the
temporal.
APPENDIX. 405
will naturally be asked, are they so seldom to be met with* ?"
How seldom they were to be met with may be seen from a
return, made by the Archbishops and Bishops to Parliament,
of the Resident and Non-resident Clergy for the year 1831. In
that year the number of benefices in England and Wales
was 10,560, and they were provided for in the following man
ner :
Resident incumbents ...... 4649
Non-resident ditto who did the duty of their parishes . 1684
Non-resident ditto who did no duty in their parishes . 4227
Curates (including 72 incumbents who were also
licensed as curates) ...... 4373
In some cases, no doubt, one curate took charge of two parishes
of two non-resident incumbents ; but I think we must con
clude from this return that the number of curates very nearly
coincided with that of non-resident incumbents ; and that up to
that time the modern system of assistant curates was not known
out of London and other large cities.
An Act of 1833, to abridge the holding of benefices in
plurality, the foundation of the Pastoral Aid Society in 1836,
and of the Society for providing Additional Curates in 1837,
each had its influence in increasing the number of assistant
curates; and the vigorous revival of pastoral work in subse
quent years has so raised the number that it probably ap
proaches 6000 at the time I am writing, and thus makes up at
least a third of the whole body of the parochial clergy who are
at work.
It is a very serious consideration that this large body of
clergy is now beginning to form a settled separate order from
the beneficed clergy. A curacy used to be considered as an
apprenticeship which led on to a benefice ; but there are now
3 British Magazine, vol. iii. p. 176.
406 APPENDIX.
hundreds, and may ere long be thousands, of clergy who will
have to work on into old age without being beneficed. Under
such circumstances two evils seem to be springing up in the
Church of England ; first, that a body of extremely poor clergy
men has been formed, and their number added to with every
increase of religious energy ; and, secondly, that the connexion
between the people of our parishes and a large portion of the
clergy is of a very slight and unspiritual nature so far as
authoritative mission is concerned. The office of Assistant
Curate has come upon us unawares ; and neither the legal nor
the spiritual provisions in respect to it are of a character to
bring it into analogy with the true system of the Church
of England.
B.
For the remarks referred to, see Chapter XIII. on Miscel
laneous llesponsibilities, pp. 388 394.
c.
The Influence of Ignorance on Christian Life.
It is curious to observe how a loose sort of feeling has grown
up during the last fifty years, that there can be very little
religion in those who are unable to read the Bible ; and that
education is, therefore, a necessary adjunct to godliness. The
extent to which the feeling has spread may be seen by the
common answer which poor people so often return to any
pastoral inquiry about their religious habits, " I m no scholar;"
as if the fact of their inability to read and write (which is
APPENDIX. 407
what they mean by the phrase) was an excuse for their neglect
of God s worship and of personal piety. Another sign of the
feeling may be noticed in the resort of ignorant persons to the
meeting-house, under the notion that the Church service re
quires more " scholarship " than they possess.
No doubt this idea has been fostered by the extravagant
exaggerations with which the benefits of education have been
lauded. It has been spoken of from the pulpit and the plat
form, and in the press, as if it were an end in itself instead
of a means to an end. A young person capable of reading
and writing has often been looked upon as, a priori, of higher
moral and religious standing than one who could do neither ;
while old-fashioned folks, who have occasionally maintained
that reading and writing often lead the way to more harm than
good, have been laughed down as if they were asserting that
which is impossible.
As this is a serious question for a clergyman who has to do
with the very ignorant classes ; and as the spiritual value of
education may be falsely estimated even among the most in
tellectual, I venture to put together what seem to me to be the
elements of a true judgment respecting it.
1. From an historical point of view, it must be allowed that
the ability to read has been confined to a very small portion of
the Christian world. Our Lord s original followers were chosen
from the illiterate class; and they who by their educational
position would be esteemed the " foolish " of the world were
enabled to " confound the wise " only by special supernatural
gifts bestowed upon them expressly for ministerial purposes.
The highly educated classes received Christianity slowly, and
with difficulty ; and to the philosophical thinkers of the age it
was mere " foolishness." And, although the poverty and igno
rance of the early Christians has been spoken of in exaggerated
language, (as if Christ s followers were exclusively those who
had nothing to lose, and no reasoning powers to examine into
408 APPENDIX.
the truth of His religion,) yet there can be no doubt that the
poor and illiterate Christians far exceeded in number those who
were wealthy and well educated. It was so in that earliest age
of Christianity, and it has been so ever since, at least until
quite modern times ; for at no period has the reading class
of people to say nothing of higher education been more than
a minute fraction of the human race, or of the Christian com
munity.
Here then we are met by the broad historical fact, that God s
good Providence has left many millions of souls to be saved by
Christianity in some other way than by reading about Him and
His truth.
2. The Christian life is based rather on moral knowledge
than on intellectual ; and this moral knowledge is derived in a
large measure from the Christianized conscience, " the candle
of the Lord," the " light that is in thee," of which our Lord
Himself spoke. This light, if it " be not darkness," is a pure,
bright, original sunshine which will guide a simple-minded
ignorant Christian as well for his work and probation as it will
the most intellectual and highly educated for his. And, al
though it is true that a right faith presupposes knowledge
derived from education, yet such knowledge may be acquired
for all essential purposes by other means than reading books ;
and is not, in fact, acquired from reading by one Christian in
a hundred. The teaching of parents, the floating traditions of
Christian society, the instruction given incidentally and directly
by the public devotions of the Church, these have been the
sources of Christian knowledge for the vast majority of Chris
tians in all ages ; and, however Bibles may be cheapened, or
good books and tracts distributed, the value of these oral in
structions will never be superseded.
3. The grace of God is, after all that can be said for ancillary
aids, the great efficient cause of holiness. And although in
tellect may be holily used even in its very highest developments,
APPENDIX. 409
yet there is clear evidence that in the Providential system
which we call Christianity the grace of God is supremely effi
cient without any aid whatever from intellect or education.
Thus, Christian children dying without actual sin "are un
doubtedly saved " hy the grace given to them in Baptism ; and
no intellectual development could ever have led them to a
higher place than that which is assigned to those who " are
without fault before the throne of God," and who " follow the
Lamb whithersoever He goeth." Nor, again, could any read
ing, thought, or reasoning, ever add holiness to that which is to
be gained by the perfectly unimpeded reception of the grace
given in the Holy Communion.
Grace being thus the great vital force of sanctity, inde
pendently of all other minor and ancillary forces, there is
no a priori reason why the most ignorant should not become
as " great in the Kingdom of Heaven " as the most educated.
4. Close spiritual communion with God is to be attained
only by accessions of grace, whether by the educated or the
ignorant. Such close communion is indeed associated with
knowledge, but the knowledge is that intuition which gives
its possessor power to " know the love of God which passeth
knowledge ; " an intuition which is a link between the faith
of our present and the vision of our future condition ; and of
which our Lord said, " I thank Thee, Father, Lord of heaven
and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise
and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes." And if, for
a moment, the intellectual sense revolts from such a doctrine,
let it be subdued by His subsequent words, " Even so, Father :
for so it seemed good in Thy sight."
From this sketch of an argument (in which I have pur
posely omitted to mention the temptations opened out by edu
cation), it may be seen that there is less to regret than is
often represented in the want of elementary education ; and
that its absence is far from being a necessary hindrance to
410 APPENDIX.
holiness. And if, in conclusion, we ask ourselves what course
the pastor is to adopt with the ignorant classes that they may
become holy, we shall probably come to the conclusion that
teaching to read, even for the purpose of reading God s words
in Holy Scripture, is not the most necessary work. He should
rather, I think, open out to them the influence of God s grace,
and show them how great a gain its unimpeded reception is to
the Christian ; should persuade them to strictness in moral
duties, constant attendance on the worship of God, and the
frequent reception of the Holy Communion. Plain dogmatic
teaching, and close pastoral guidance, may thus lead to heaven
many an one who knew not one letter from another, but could
see the road thither; whose reflective powers may have been
of the lowest order, but who was a passive recipient of the
saving grace of his Redeemer, and has been built up by it into
the " stature of the fulness of Christ."
D.
Rules of the Oxford Churchmen s Union.
I. The object of this Union is to promote the close and active
co-operation of Clergy and Laity, by any of the following means,
or others which may be conducive to the same end :
By Meetings for conversation and mutual improvement.
By circulating books and information on subjects of interest
affecting the work and condition of the Church.
By holding friendly intercourse with neighbours, with due
reference to the parochial system, for the purpose of encou
raging young men to take a personal interest in religion.
By instructing the ignorant.
APPENDIX. 411
By taking steps to provide improved lodgings for artisans,
labourers, or casual travellers.
By Lectures, Readings, Singing Classes, and Musical Enter
tainments.
By providing places and means of recreation suitable to the
seasons of the year.
By providing refreshment-rooms for working men with a view
to encourage temperate habits.
II. The Union may lend its aid in forming separate Associa
tions, either general or local, for any of the foregoing purposes.
III. The Union shall consist of Members and Associates.
MEMBEES.
IV. Any Confirmed male member of the Church of England,
who is wilhng in any way to work in association for the spiri
tual or temporal good of his brethren, shall be eligible as a
Member.
V. The names and addresses of persons wishing to become
Members shall be suspended on a board in the Koom, with the
names of their proposers, for one week, and shall then be
submitted to the next Meeting of the Council for admission
or rejection. Parochial Clergymen shall be admitted, upon pay
ment of a subscription, without ballot.
VI. A Subscription of at least One Shilling Quarterly shall
be required from each Member, and must be paid in advance.
VII. All Subscriptions shall be considered as due at Christmas,
Lady Day, Midsummer Day, and Michaelmas, yearly.
VIII. The affairs of the Union shall be managed by a Council
consisting of a President, Treasurer, and Twenty-two others, two
of whom shall act as Secretaries ; of which number of twenty-
two, one-half shall be Clergymen, eight at least being parochial
Clergymen, and the other half Laymen ; five to be a Quorum,
412 APPENDIX.
IX. The Bishop of the Diocese for the time being shall, if he
will accept the office, be Patron, and shall be entitled to preside
at any Meetings of the Union or Council.
X. The President shall always be a Clergyman in Priest s
Orders.
XI. The President and Treasurer and Council shall be elected
by a majority of the whole of the Members present at a General
Annual Meeting, of which ten days notice shall be given, and
which shall be held on the second Monday in each year, unless
the Council shall see fit in any year to name some other day in
the month of January as more convenient.
XII. Persons not being Communicants of the Church shall
not be eligible to the Council.
XIII. The President shall hold his office for one year, and
the Treasurer and the rest of the Council for three years, one-
third of the Council retiring every year ; but all Members of
the Council shall be capable of re-election.
XIV. Any vacancy in the Council occurring during the year
may be filled up at any Ordinary or Special Meeting of the
Union, ten days notice to be given.
XV. The Council shall have power from time to time to make
and rescind Bye-Laws for the management of their own and
General Meetings, and for the establishment of Special Associa
tions ; and to provide Rooms, Assistant Officers and Servants,
and whatever may be necessary for carrying out the objects of
the Union.
XVI. The Council shall annually, at their first Meeting after
the General Annual Meeting, appoint out of their own number
two Secretaries for the year ensuing, one of whom shall be a
Clerical and the other a Lay Member.
XVII. The President, or in his absence, one of the Members
of the Council to be named at the time, shall take the Chair at
all Meetings of the Union or Council, and shall have a casting
vote.
APPENDIX. 413
XVIII. All Bye-Laws which shall be made shall be com
municated to the next General Meeting.
XIX. A Statement of Accounts and a Report of the Proceed
ings of the Union during each year, shall be submitted to the
General Annual Meeting, as provided for in Rule XI.
XX. The Secretaries shall summon Meetings both of the
Council and Union, keep a Register of Members and Associates,
keep Minutes of the Proceedings of all Meetings of the Council
and the Union, prepare the Annual Report, and receive Subscrip
tions, which shall be handed over to the Treasurer.
XXI. The Treasurer shall keep the Accounts, which shall be
open at all times to the inspection of Members of the Council,
and prepare the Annual Statement.
XXII. Special Meetings of the Union may be called by one
of the Secretaries, or by any five Members ; seven days notice,
in writing, of the Meeting and of the particular business being
given.
XXIII. No additions to, or alterations in, the Rules of the
Union shall be made until they have been submitted to one
Ordinary or Special Meeting of the Union and confirmed at a
subsequent Meeting, a majority of votes being requisite for the
adoption of such additions or alterations.
ASSOCIATES.
XXIV. The Council shall have power at their discretion, to
enrol any persons as Associates, on the recommendation of a
Member of the Union. Each Associate shall pay at least One
Shilling quarterly in advance to the Funds of the Union, such
Subscription to be collected by the Member recommending.
XXV. Persons subscribing to any separate Association in
connexion with this Union shall also be entitled to be enrolled
as Associates.
XXVI. Associates shall be entitled to attend ordinary or
special meetings of the Union, without the power of voting or
414 APPENDIX.
being eligible to the Council ; and shall be admitted to the
privileges of the Members subject to any regulations or Bye-
Laws made by the Council or any General Meeting regarding
them.
XXVII. The Council shall have power to take such steps as
shall be necessary for co-operating with the Church Institution
or other Societies or Unions which may have kindred objects in
view, subject to the approval of a General Meeting.
BYE-LAWS FOR THE USE AJTD REGULATION OF THE ROOMS.
I. That the Rooms be opened from Six p.m. till Ten p.m.
every Evening during the Year (except Sundays, Good Friday,
and Christmas Day), for Reading and Recreation.
II. That the following Newspapers and Periodicals be taken
in : Two copies of the Times, Evening Standard, Telegraph,
Star, Illustrated News, Three Oxford Papers, Builder, and Guar
dian. All the Year Round, Once a Week, Kingston s Magazine
for Boys, Penny Post, Church Porch, Chambers s Journal, Punch,
and British Workman. [Several Magazines and Newspapers
are sent to the rooms by members.]
III. That the following Games be allowed : Chess, Draughts,
Backgammon, Dominoes, Solitaire, German Tactics, &c., as
boards and the necessary materials can be supplied ; and that
writing materials be kept in the Room for the use of Members.
IV. That Singing and other Classes, and Lectures, be arranged
by the Council from time to time as may be found desirable.
V. That the Newspapers be sold by the Council when no
longer wanted.
VI. That all gambling and betting on any Games be strictly
prohibited.
VII. That no Smoking be allowed in the Rooms.
APPENDIX. 415
VIII. That the Rooms, with the books and other contents,
shall be under the care of an Assistant Secretary.
IX. That a Book be kept in the Room in which Suggestions
may be made for the purchase of books, &c., and for the better
carrying out the objects of the Union.
X. That all Persons will be expected to recognize their respon
sibility for the preservation from injury of the property of the
Union, and for the maintenance of the Rules, and of order and
decorum in the Rooms ; and that two Members weekly be
Curators of the Rooms, whose special duty it shall be to be
present alternately, or as they shall arrange during their week
of office, and the Curator present shall have the control of all
proceedings in the Rooms.
XI. That any breach of Rules, or of order, or decorum, may
be reported to the Council, who may admonish the offender, or
in case of flagrant or repeated offences, may forbid him the use
of the Rooms for a limited period, or expel him from the Union.
[Lectures were given on a great variety of subjects in 1861 ;
Six on Church History, several on Switzerland and Mountain
Travel, on Light and Colour, the Elements of Drawing, Oxygen
Gas, Algeria, How to keep out of the Doctor s hands, Photo
graphy, Combustion, the early history of Oxford Castle, Structure
of the Brain, Phrenology, Genius, several topographical lectures,
and Christmas Customs. A concert, and a Christmas Eve of
Carol- singing at the Town Hall, a Conversazione, and a Water
Excursion, were also among the entertainments of the year.]
Bane/or Lay Association.
Some years ago, an Association of a somewhat similar kind
was formed in Wales ; but with a more distinctively Lay cha
racter. Of this also I annex some particulars, as illustrative of
the subject of Lay Co-operation.
416 APPENDIX.
THE DESIGN
CHUKCH LAY ASSOCIATION,
IN THE
DIOCESE OF BANGOR.
The Design of the Society is, to infuse and encourage a spirit
of activity amongst the Lay Members of the Church ; to call
their attention to their important duties as such ; and to afford
them opportunities of consultation, and of mutual exhortation in
every good work.
The Society in no way interferes with the system of the
Church ; it has to do only with developing and applying that
system more completely and generally. It entertains no ques
tion of doctrine ; it regards not the various opinions that may
exist among Churchmen ; it connects itself with no particular
party in the Church ; it seeks not to know any one of its
Members otherwise than as a sincere Churchman, and consistent
Christian. Neither does it, as a Society, interfere with the
internal government and discipline of the Church ; but exhorts
its Members to co-operate with their Ministers in correcting
whatever may deviate from order and propriety.
It further exhorts its Members to assist the Clergy to the
utmost of their power, and by every lawful means, in bringing
about a practical revival in the Church, in setting the machinery
in full motion ; and to endeavour, by influence and example, to
regain to the Church of our fathers the exalted character and
healthful influence which legitimately belong to her, and which
also she did enjoy till the indifference and unfaithfulness of her
Members, and other causes, deprived her of them. In every
case, and under all circumstances, the Society recommends its
APPENDIX. 417
Members to proceed with all due respect and deference to every
ecclesiastical authority and ordinance, and in friendly co-opera
tion with their Ministers, without whom they should undertake
to effect no parochial improvements.
Above all, to see that their own life and conversation be always
the best proof, to the world, of the genuineness of their Church-
manship.
THE EULES
CHUECH LAY ASSOCIATION.
Passed at the General Meeting of October 6th, 1853, and approved by the
Clergy.
I. That we, as Churchmen, look upon the Church of our
Fathers, established in this country, as being in a state of inac
tion and depression, attributable, in a great measure, to the
negligence of its Lay Members.
II. That we believe we have our part to take in effecting a
revival within the Church.
III. For which purpose we unite in an Association, whereby
we may encourage fraternal sympathy, and have better oppor
tunity to consult upon our duties, with a view to exercise our
influence more effectively in our respective parishes for the good
of the Church of Christ, in a spirit of Christian love.
IV. That when Members wish to assist in effecting any
improvements in their parishes, they are to act, not in the name
of the Society, but independently, as Members of the Church,
not as Members of the Society.
V. That the Society be called the " CHUBCH LAY ASSOCIA-
E e
418 APPENDIX.
TION," and that it consist of President, Vice-President, Com
mittee, Treasurer, Secretary, and ordinary Members.
VI. That the Committee consist of not more than ten, and
not less than five Members from every Rural Deanery.
VII. That all the Society s proceedings be conducted in strict
conformity with the system of the Church ; and that it exists
only while in union with the Church.
VIII. That the Society be under the management of Lay
Members of the Church ; under the patronage and support of
the Clergy, whose co-operation and attendance at the Society s
Meetings are desired.
IX. That no question of doctrine be entertained or discussed
by the Committee, or Members, in their Meetings.
X. That every Communicant in the Church is entitled, as
such, to be present at the Society s Meetings ; if a stranger, he
must be introduced by a Member of the Committee, or a
Representative, to whom he is known, or by the clergyman of
his parish.
XI. That no propositions be laid before the General Meetings,
without first passing through Committee. If the proposer be an
ordinary Member, his proposition must be placed in the hands of
a Committee-man, to be laid before the same ; if the subject be
entertained, the original proposer may lay it before the Meeting.
XII. That no Reports of the General Meetings be sent to
Newspapers, but through the Secretary.
XIII. That every Parish Church select one or more to re
present them in the Local Meeting ; and that every Local
Meeting select a definite number of its Members to represent it
at the General Meeting.
XIV. That every Local Officer is a member of the General
Committee, ex qfftcio.
APPENDIX 419
E.
A Town Reading-room and Library.
The following are regulations which have been in use for
several years in a large town parish, and are found to answer.
THE EEADCfGr-BOOM.
I. The Reading-room is open every Evening from Seven till
Ten, except Sunday, Christmas Day, Good Friday, and Ascension
Day.
II. Periodicals not to be lent out until bound up in volumes,
then to be issued on the same terms as other works in the
Library.
III. No person to detain a Newspaper more than ten minutes
after it has been asked for by another person.
IV. It is hoped that order and quiet will prevail in the
Library and Reading Rooms. Any case of conduct or conversa
tion annoying to other readers, persisted in after notice from
the Librarian, shall be brought before the Committee at their
next meeting.
V. No Member to detain a chess or draught board more than
half an hour after it has been asked for by others, unless the
game then being played be unfinished.
THE LIBEAEY.
VI. The Library to be open for the issue and return of books
on the Evenings of Tuesdays and Thursdays, from Seven till
Nine o clock ; and on Saturday Mornings from Eleven to One.
VII. No Member to have more than one volume out at one
time, unless permitted by the Committee ; and not to detain it
beyond the time specified therein, under a penalty of Id. per
day. If more than one person apply for the same book, the
Ee2
420
APPENDIX.
Librarian shall enter the names of the applicants in order and
issue it to the first.
VIII. If a book be damaged, the Committee shall determine
the amount of damage which must be paid by the Member ; or
if lost, to be replaced by the member who took it out.
IX. Any disputes respecting the observance or breach of the
above rules, to be referred to and settled by the Committee ;
and if a Member refuses to abide by that decision, the Committee
shall have power to remove his name from the list of members,
without returning any part of his subscription.
I also annex a Table showing the proportion in which the
different classes of books were used in the same Library ; and
which may be taken as a fair guide for the proportion in which
they should be provided.
Class.
No. Vols.
1-.^ ied
during
the year.
I.
Arts, Sciences, Trades, Manufactures
54
105
II.
Anatomy ....
37
16
III.
Biography
194
230
IV.
Dictionaries, Encyclopedias
68
18
V.
Education
126
19
VI.
Fiction, &c.
120
978
VII.
Geography
293
679
VIII.
Geometry
54
18
IX.
History ....
321
316
X.
Literature
61
86
XI.
Miscellaneous .
82
124
XII.
Natural History
48
57
XIII.
Periodicals
186
528
XIV.
Poetry, &c.
67
121
XV.
Political Economy
63
90
XVI.
Physical Science
66
55
XVII.
Theology ....
360
377
Juvenile Library
430
2083
Total . v
2623
5900
APPENDIX. 421
F.
Plan for forming and carrying on a Village Lending Library.
1. Provide three classes of Books : (A) Religious ; (B) Novels
and Tales ; (C) Instructive. They should be covered with cloth
paper, distinctly labelled with name and number on the back ;
and the classes kept on separate shelves.
2. Provide a Register and Catalogue. If the latter is printed,
so much the better. The Register should be a volume of
ledger size, and of about 600 or 800 pages, ruled for the purpose,
thus :
14 DATS. DAISY CHAIN. 127
Borrower.
Taken out.
Returned.
John Smith.
Mary Reynolds.
Oct. 10.
Nov. 15.
Oct. 21.
By careful economy of the pages the number of the book and
that of the register page may be kept identical for a long time ;
and when the most frequently used pages are filled up, others
should be pasted in at the same place.
3. The Clergyman should occasionally examine the Catalogue
and Register to see that they are properly kept up ; and all the
books should be called in and inspected once or twice in the
year.
4. The following will be found to be useful working
RULES.
1. Each person using the Library is to pay sixpence a
quarter in advance.
2. Each subscriber may have out two volumes at a time,
from different classes.
422 APPENDIX.
3. A book may only be kept for the time marked on the
label. If wanted for a longer time, it must be brought to the
Librarian to be registered again, provided it has not been
bespoken by another subscriber.
4. Any careless damage done to the books must be paid for,
or the book bought by the person damaging it at a fair second
hand price.
5. All books are to be returned on January 1, and July 1,
and the Library closed for a fortnight.
G.
Harvest Homes.
By permission of the Rev. C. C. Beaty-Pownall, I reprint
the handbill used for the Harvest Home which I have taken as
a type of its class at p. 36G. In the following year the wet
season had so injured the crops and delayed the harvest, that
the Thanksgiving Service alone was used, without the festivi
ties ; and on that occasion a pastoral letter was circulated in
which the parishioners were urged to remember God s good
ness to them even in an adverse season. But in 18G1 I
was present at a very successful repetition of the festival of
1859.
It should also be stated that a Thanksgiving Service has
been found to have a very excellent result in Town parishes.
Some pains should be taken in appealing to the eye by means
of decorations in corn, green leaves, and flowers.
APPENDIX. 423
MILTON ERNEST
HARVEST HOME FESTIVAL.
A SPECIAL SERVICE
WILL BE HELD (GOD WILLING)
n ris
THANKSGIVING FOR THE HARVEST,
ON TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER Q, 1859,
AT 1.30 P.M., WHEN
A SERMON WILL BE PREACHED
BY THE
REV. JOHN BURGON, M.A.,
FELLOW OP ORIEL COLLEGE, OXFORD, &C.
Pray come every one in the Parish, and join in giving
God thanks.
DINNER WILL BE PROVIDED AT 3 P.M. IN THE PARK.
ADMISSION TO TEA, &c., AT 4.30 P.M.
* # * No one can be allowed to enter except through the Avenue
Gates, and with a Ticket, which must be obtained from one of the
Farmers or the Vicar, on or before Saturday, September 3rd.
424 APPENDIX.
Milton Ernest Vicarage,
August 29th, 1859.
"Mr DEAE PAEISHIONEES,
It is generally known among you that it has
been in contemplation for some time past to carry out a
plan (which has been found to be successful in many other
places) of celebrating in a more fitting way than heretofore, the
gathering in of the Harvest.
The plan is this, 1st. That on a certain day after the Harvest
work is ended, all the Harvest men should Avalk in procession
to their Parish Church for Afternoon Service, and that the
whole Village should meet them there to offer praise and
thanksgiving to the Giver of all Good for His mercy in bless
ing us again with the fruits of the earth.
2nd. That after Service all the Harvest men should sit down
to a Dinner provided for them, and that their wives, and the
boys who have been employed in the Harvest, should join
them at Tea.
3rd. That there should be a Band of Music ; also Cricket,
Foot Ball, and other games, for those who may be disposed to
take part in them.
I am happy therefore to tell you, that this plan of keeping
Harvest Home, is this year to be tried at Milton Ernest ; the
Farmers and other employers have kindly taken an interest in
the matter, and intend to provide a Dinner, Tea, and various
methods of out-door Amusements, instead of money or a Har
vest Supper.
I am truly glad that the experiment is to be made, for should
it succeed, (as I see no reason to doubt but it should,) there
will be good reason why this may be made a yearly half-holiday,
and a day of thanksgiving and rejoicing to our village. But,
APPENDIX. 425
my good friends, I must remind you that the success of the un
dertaking mainly rests upon yourselves.
If there be any excess, disorder, quarrelling, or unpleasant
ness of any kind, the whole thing will and must fall to the
ground.
From what I know of most of you I do not anticipate any
thing of the kind ; but at the same time I earnestly beg of
you to join with the promoters of the festival in avoiding in
yourselves and discouraging in others any such cause of com
plaint ; both for the sake of your own comfort and enjoyment,
and for the credit of our village. Let not your employers who
have so kindly come forward on this occasion, be disappointed
of their generous object, which is, (after the great one of offer
ing God thanks,) that you, who have worked so hard, should
have a holiday of real recreation, and of rational and innocent
enjoyment.
It may be as well, however, to state plainly, that as all who
enter the Park will only be admitted there by the special per
mission of the Squire, that permission will be at once withdrawn
from any one who may by misconduct disturb the order and
enjoyment of the party, and he will be at once removed.
I trust confidently, however, that nothing of this kind will
happen ; and that this may (should our lives be spared) be but
the commencement of many such happy gatherings, where both
Pastor and People, Master and Man, may yearly come to
gether, united by common cause for thankfulness and joy, is
the earnest wish of
Your affectionate Friend and Pastor,
C. C. BEATY-POWSTALL."
At the end of this paper were printed the two hymns to be
sung on the occasion. It need hardly be added that the ser
vice was choral.
426 APPENDIX.
[It will be useful to mention here an excellent little pamphlet
on the subject, printed since the foregoing was written. It is
entitled, " Scheme for a Harvest Home ; with full Details as to
management, quantities of provisions, estimated cost, and other
useful suggestions and facts, universally applicable. By the
Rector of Frittenden, Kent. Rivingtons, London and Oxford,
1864." The information given is all based on experience.]
H.
Belfry Rules.
The Belfry is a part of the Church, and is consecrated to
the service of Almighty God.
The bells are instruments of sacred music ; and should be
to the parish at large, what the organ is to the congregation
assembled in Church. They should tell forth the praises of
God, and awaken solemn thoughts in the hearts of all who hear
them. The office, therefore, of Ringer is a holy office, and
should ever be performed in a reverent manner.
RULES.
I. There shall be [eight] stated ringers, and [four] pro
bationary ringers.
II. The stated and the probationary ringers shall be ap
pointed by the Minister ; and no other persons shall assist in
chiming or ringing at any time without his permission.
III. All the regular chiming and ringing shall be done
by the stated ringers, and all the profits shall be enjoyed by
them.
IV. No person, except the ringers, shall be allowed to be
present during the ringing without leave of the Minister, and
APPENDIX. 427
the leader of the ringers shall be responsible for the church
doors being locked during the ringing.
V. No ale, beer, or liquor of any kind, shall on any pretence
be brought into the church or churchyard.
VI. If any ringer be guilty of drunkenness, swearing,
habitual neglect of public "worship in church, or of any other
immoral or irreligious conduct, he shall be dismissed.
VII. The ringers are expected to attend at the chiming
on all the Sundays, on Christmas Day, Good Friday, and Ascen
sion Day, and at other times when their services may be re
quired. They are also expected to ring on the mornings and
evenings of Christmas Day, New Year s Day, Easter Day, and
Ascension Day ; on Christmas Eve, and New Year s Eve ; and at
such other times as the Minister and Churchwardens, with the
concurrence of the ringers, may appoint.
VIII. The salary of the ringers shall be 15s. each, to be
due at Christmas; but from this sum is to be deducted the
amount of such forfeits as each ringer may have incurred by
omitting to attend.
IX. This payment is to be instead of all allowances and
gratuities from any persons whatsoever ; excepting only such
presents as may be made to ringers at weddings, and on other
occasions.
X. The money so received shall on no account be spent in
feasting or drinking, but shall be handed over to the Treasurer,
to be distributed by him in equal proportions to the ringers,
with their stated salaries, at the year s end.
XI. The leader of the ringers is to attend punctually at
the church to provide for the chiming, &c. ; to forfeit 6^. for
every time of absence ; and to receive 5s. at the year s end over
and above his salary for his extra trouble.
XII. When a ringer from any cause is absent, his absence
is to be noted in a book kept by the leader for that purpose ;
and a deduction of 2 d. is to be made from his salary upon every
428 APPENDIX.
occasion of such absence. A probationary ringer may, how
ever, supply the place of a stated ringer with the consent of
the Minister.
XIII. In case of any dispute arising amongst the ringers
in reference to any matters connected with the belfry, a refer
ence shall be made to the Minister, whose decision thereon
shall be final.
We, the undersigned, agree to the above rules, and pledge
ourselves to a strict observance of them.
[Here follow the names of the ringers.]
I.
Prayers for a Choir.
The following is a copy of some Prayers which I had printed
on cards about twelve years ago, and which have been used in
several churches :
^[ Before Service, or Practice, let the Singing-master [if the
Clergyman is not present] say thus, all kneeling.
Let us pray.
Lord, have mercy upon us.
Christ, have mercy upon us.
Lord, have mercy upon us.
Our Father, Which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come. Thy Will be done in earth, As it is in
heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our
APPENDIX. 429
trespasses, As we forgive them that trespass against us. And
lead us not into temptation : But deliver us from evil. Amen.
Praise ye the Lord.
The Lord s Name be praised.
^[ Then is to le said this Canticle, all standing.
Lord, who shall dwell in Thy tabernacle : or who shall rest
upon Thy holy hill ?
Even he that leadeth an uncorrupt life : and doeth the tiling
that is right, and speaketh the truth from his heart.
O praise the Lord, for it is a good thing to sing praises unto
our God : yea, a joyful and pleasant thing it is to be thankful.
Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house : they will be alway
praising Thee.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son : and to the Holy
Ghost :
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be : world
without end. Amen.
Let us pray.
Lord, Who knowest the imperfection of all things that we
do ; sanctify, we beseech Thee, both our hearts and bodies to
Thy service, that we may engage in the work of Thy Sanctuary
with reverence and godly fear ; and that our lips may offer unto
Thee an acceptable sacrifice, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
After Service, or Practising.
Let us pray.
Accept, O Lord, we beseech Thee, the hearty endeavours of
us Thy humble servants to praise Thy Holy Name : and grant
430 APPENDIX.
that the work wherein we are engaged may, by Thy Grace, be
made effectual to the advancement of our souls in Thy Faith,
Fear, and Love, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and
the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with us all evermore.
Amen.
INDEX
ABSOLUTION, a delegation of the
Good Shepherd s authority and
power, 35 ; of penitents, 232 ; in
Visitation Office, 255 ; public
sufficient for ordinary life, 264.
Accuracy in teaching-, 44.
Advice to be given on Christian
Ethics, 250.
Aged and infirm persons, visiting of,
195.
Analogy of physical life and grace
of ordination, 29.
Analyzing the belief of those in
error, 240.
Avafj-vrjcns, the Holy Communion
an, 186.
Approachableness, 75.
Assistant Curates, 16. 403.
Augustine, St., his estimate of pas
toral labour, 23 ; his rule for
preachers, 107.
Austen, Mrs., on woman s work and
training, 324.
Bangor Lay Association, 415.
Baptism, should be public, 160;
private, 163; lay, 165; its rela
tion to pastoral work, 171.
Baptismal Regeneration to be taught
by devotion rather than by con
troversy, 162.
Karon, Rev. John, on Organs, 386.
Basire, Archdeacon of Durham, and
daily service, 49.
Bel and the Dragon, 59.
Belfries and ringers under clergy
man s control, 388.
Bells, mode of using, 390; Rev. H.
T. Ellacombe s mode of chiming,
393.
Best, Dr., on daily service, 51.
Bible and Prayer Book classes, 248.
j Bible Lesson, method of giving a,
286.
Bickersteth, Archdeacon, his rules
for Belfries, 426.
Bishops the centre of pastoral work,
16. 69.
Blunt, Professor, on study for ser
mons, 115; on village preaching,
144.
Books for use in visiting, 198.
Bull, Bishop, his opinions about
clerical learning, 5; on hiding
baptisms, 163.
Burial Service, choral, 395.
Butler, Bishop, on controversial
preaching, 111.
Bustling habits, 61. 73. 89.
Canons, on clerical qualifications,
5; private baptism, 164; confir
mation, 174 ; Holy Communion,
176 ; Visitation of Sick, 192. 220 ;
432
INDEX.
discipline, 229; Dissent, 235; con
fession, 257.
Casuistry, 251.
Catechism, a private manual on the,
115. 179; its value for sermons,
&c., 116, n. ; works on, 179, n.
Catechizing, the use of, 97. 115.
286 ; a preparation for confir
mation, 179. 274. 279.
Cathedrals, centres of Divine wor
ship, 47. 187.
Cautions, as to effect of authorita
tive words, 31 ; teaching about
sacerdotal authority and power,
39; and fasting, 136; as to pri
vate baptisms, 164 ; as to woman s
work, 323.
Census of parishioners, 225.
Chalice, &c., for private celebra
tions, 216.
Chancel, use of the, 378 ; the place
for organ, 385.
Character, high standard required
for clergy, 3 ; low standard of last
century, 7.
Xa/)o/cT?jp and x<*-P lff P-- given in or
dination, 10. 13.
Chiming for service, 392.
Christening clothes, 173.
Christian seasons, 135.
Christian courtesy to be taught in
schools, 290.
Christology in sermons, 114; in all
dealings with error, 239.
Choirs, a means of moral discipline,
321.
Church, the chief national educa
tor, 272.
Institute, parochial, 353.
schools not making Church
people, 278.
tone to be given to visitation
of sick, 196 ; and to school work,
278.
Churchmen s Union, 355; rules of
Oxford, 410.
Churchwardens, 309.
Churchyards, 394.
Clergy, their place in society, 6. 80 ;
separated from laity, 8.
Clerical begging, 313.
Cliqueism among the clergy, 62 ; in
the parish, 89.
Club, clothing and coal, 341; work
ing men s, 349.
Coleridge, Bishop, his gift of vessels
for Private Communion, 219.
Commemoration of departed, 188.
Commentaries, 129.
Communicants, young, 176. 184.
Communion, the Holy, 186 ; private,
198. 204. 214 ; vessels for private,
216.
Composition of Sermons, 128. 146.
Confession, authority for use of pri
vate, 254; by the dying, 203.
207; sick penitents, 262 ; healthy
penitents, 262; habitual use of,
265.
Confirmation, 173; prayer to be
used by candidates, 180 ; questions
for them, 181.
Consolations of pastoral work, 24.
208. 223. 232. 260.
Cosin, Bishop, on daily service, 52.
Curates, licensed, their commission,
16; a modern institution, 404;
not fully recognized by Church or
State, 406.
Cure of souls, apprenticeship for, 3 ;
how given, 16 ; includes children,
271 ; not given to unbeneficed
clergy, 403.
Daily services, 47 ; endowments for,
51; solitary, not enjoined, 52;
advantage of to pastor and people,
53 ; objections to, 57.
Death by violence, 205, n.; 260.
Death-beds of religious Church peo
ple, 202 ; religious Dissenters,
204 ; irreligious persons, 205.
Decoration of churches, permanent,
381.
Delegation of Christ s authority and
power to pastors, 30.
Difficulties of pastoral work, 24.
72.
Dining out, &c., 81.
Discipline, pastoral, 229.
Dissenters, visiting in sickness, 199.
204 ; how they are made, 233 ;
INDEX.
433
their preachers of low social
status, 227 ; their baptisms, 168.
Doctrine, instruction in necessary,
96. Ill; method of, 114; rever
ence in, 117.
Doubters and free inquirers, 201. 244.
Durham University training of
preachers, 126.
Duties of Christian life to be taught
to children, 288.
Education, clerical, 3.
, clergymen agents for
society, 27 ; pastoral duty respect
ing, 273. 283 ; religious, 276.
Ellacombe, Rev. H. T., on bells,
393.
Endowments, an accident of pastor s
position, 69 ; yet a quid pro quo,
70.
Error, Church of England princi- !
pies about, 235; how to contend
against, 238; traces of truth in,
240; dissipated by full inquiry,
245.
Estimate of expense for school treat,
370.
Ethics, Christian, 117. 250.
Evangelical party, their idea of
preaching, 99; their use of con-
fession, 253.
Exactness in ministerial functions,
42. 159. 215.
Exhibition, a parochial, 353, n.
Exhortation in Communion Service
about confession, 256.
Exposition in preaching, 109; at
daily service, 58.
Extempore preaching, 147.
prayer, 205.
Ferrar, his practice of daily service,
49.
Folio wings, 92.
Fonts elbowed out of the wav, 162.
Formality, 43. 94.
Formation of social character, cleri
cal influence towards, 289.
Funeral pall for the poor, 396.
Government Inspectors, 281.
Grace of God given to pastors, 10;
its necessity to be duly taught,
45 ; its elevating power, 408 ;
given to the ignorant, 409.
Graves, depth of, important, 396.
Grenville, Dean of Durham, 49.
Gresley, Rev. W., on dangers at
tending habitual private confes
sion, 267, 268.
Hagley Club, 350.
Hale, Archdeacon, defence of In
tramural burial, 394.
Harvest homes, 365 ; pastoral letter
for, 424.
Henley, Mr., on religious education,
276.
Herbert, George, his use of daily
service, 49. 56; on study, 114;
on instructing the ignorant, 249 ;
on casuistry, 251 ; on confession,
262 ; his institution, 70.
Hewitson, Archdeacon, on daily ser
vice, 48.
Holiness, personal, of pastors, 40.
64.
Homily of Repentance, on confession,
258.
Hooker, his opinions about the
pastoral office, 9; and the words
of ordination, 12 ; on the Puritan
use of the phrase " Word of God,"
104.
Hooper, Bishop of Bath and Wells,
on daily service, 50.
Howels, Rev. Win., and weekly
communion, 189.
Human nature, study of, 132.
Ignorance, 96. 280; the parent of
doubt and unbelief, 244; its in
fluence on the Christian life, 406.
Infant schools, a necessary evil,
295; their legitimate use, 296;
lady -teachers in, 296. 328.
Infection, rules for guarding against,
222.
Instructions to Government In
spectors, 282.
Scripture Readers,
318.
434
INDEX.
Intellectual meditation, 131.
James the First, Injunctions about
afternoon sermons, 116, n.
Jerome, St., his estimate of pastoral
work, 24.
Lany, Bishop of Ely, on daily ser
vice, 49.
Lapide, Cornelius a, 129.
Law s picture of a holy pastor, 78.
Lay Baptisms, 165.
Laymen s work, in Evening schools,
298 ; the " Times " on, 308, n. ; in
gathering and dispensing Church
funds, 313 ; in parish institutions,
339 ; in training choirs, 321 ; in
Lectures, 322; organization of,
335 ; supervision of, 333.
Lessons, desirable to on 1 it some, 59 ;
varied combination of, with Psalms,
&c., 54. 138.
Lessons, school, on our Lord s Minis
try, 284.
Libraries, parochial, 348.
Limitations respecting confession,
263.
" Local " preaching, 141.
London, its daily services, 48. 50, n. ;
vocabulary of its labouring classes,
145.
Loyalty, pledge of, by clergy, 5.
Lyra, Nicolas de, 129.
Manual for visitation of sick, 213.
Map of parish, 225.
Men the leaders of religious life, 91.
Methodists, meeting the errors of,
241.
Mistakes about sacramental efficacy,
35.
Money for Church purposes, 315. 398.
Naves of churches for congregations,
377.
Neglect of Church duties brings
State legislation, 234.
Newton, Kev. John, his use of con
fession, 253.
Nightingale, Miss, on woman s
work, 325, n.
Offertory, 316, n. ; 400.
j Ordination, force of wordsused in, 1 1 ;
qualifications required for, 2 ; obli.
gations arising from, 8; powers
bestowed by, 13 ; makes pastors
agents of Christ, 23. 37 ; vow re
specting parochial visitation, 193.
224.
Organs, 382.
Over-work, 98.
Oxford, Bishop of, on putting for
ward claims to Apostolic authority,
41 ; on Confirmation and first Com
munion, 184.
Paley, on clerical frequenters of beer-
shops, 7 ; his moral theology, 120 ;
recommends to steal five-sixths of
one s sermons, 123, n.
Parish room, 76. 248.
Parochial system, 69.
bequests, 311.
visitation, 224.
Partiality for particular kinds of
persons or work, 89.
Pastor, the Chief, His Example, 21.
74; reliance on Him, 38. 68, in
preaching, 155, in danger, 223.
, Scriptural use of the name,
17 ; seldom hi Prayer Book, 18 ;
only once in New Testament for
human pastors, 19 ; application of
name to them justified, 19; as
Christ s deputies, 20; the person
to be sunk in the office, 32 ; should
appreciate his authority and power,
31. 34. 38.
Pastoral letter on Harvest homes,
424.
Patrick, Bishop, his use of daily
service, 49.
Paul, St., his idea of the Christian
ministry, 14 ; his high estimate of
the preacher s office, 107.
Penny Banks, 339.
Perseverance, 46.
Personality in preaching, 133.
Plain preaching, 143.
Poverty of clergymen, 86.
Prayers, for confirmation candidates,
180; for schools, 301; for infirm
INDEX.
435
and aged persons, 197 ; for a choir,
428.
Prayer Book, on pastoral office, 12 ;
on daily service, 47. 51.
Preacher s mishaps, 124.
Preaching, extreme opinions about,
99; its place in the Church sys
tem, 101 ; object of, 108.
Pride of social position, evils of, 86.
Priesthood, the Christian, a develop
ment of the Levitical, 15.
Principles of Lay co-operation, 307.
Church restoration, 373.
- Confession and Absolu
tion, 250.
Psalms, the use of in sermons, 109.
139 ; for sick persons, 204.
Public speaking, the art of, 149.
Qualifications required in clergy, 2.
Rabbinical prediction of Eucharist,
15, n.
Reading-room and library in towns,
421.
Religious instruction of children,
278.
Societies, 356.
Residence, non-effective kind of, 71.
Resident and non-resident clergy in
1831, 405.
Restitution, 207. 231.
Restoration of churches, 373.
Results of work, some certain, 25;
why not much seen, 27.
Reticence, necessity for in clergy,
270.
Rubric about confession, 254.
Rudeness, its moral importance,
291.
Sacraments, what they are, 158.
Sanderson, Bishop, anecdote of, 148 ;
his cases of conscience, 252.
Sanitary suggestions by the clergy,
397.
Schools, higher class, 273 ; endowed,
274; parish, 275; infant, 294;
evening, 298 ; Sunday, 301 ; at
daily service, 279 ; how much to
be visited, 289; attendance card,
292 ; treats and tea-drinkings. 368 ;
prayers for, 304.
Schoolmasters, to co-operate with
clergy, 283 ; and with volunteer
teachers, 329.
Scott and Simeon, their use of con
fession, 253.
Scripture, Holy, satanic apph cations,
36 ; telling use of, 142 ; our Lord s
use of, 238. 288 ; children should
learn much by heart, 287; re
verent use of it in schools, 285.
Scripture Readers, unpaid, 317.
Self-reliance, temptation to, 68.
Sermon borrowing, 122 ; notes, 151 ;
subjects for, 133.
Shortening the services, 58.
Sickness, temporary and mortal, 199.
Sins, forgiveness of, by God only, 37 ;
in the public absolution, 264.
Singers, church, 319 ; under control
of clergymen, 387.
Social intercourse, object of, 85.
Society leavened by clergy, 80.
Sprinkling in baptism, 159.
Study, duty of, 61 ; for preaching,
128 ; for dealing with error, 238.
Sympathy with flock, 74.
Systematic habits, 94.
Taylor, Jeremy, on confession, 266.
Tea-drinkings, 368.
Teachers, infant school, 297; Sun
day school, 302 ; day school, 327.
Thomas, Archdeacon, on Village
Feasts, 363.
Towns, importance of, 92; great
sources of lay help, 337.
Tracts for Times on preaching, 99.
teaching error, 243.
Valetudinarianism, spiritual, 267.
Village feasts, 361.
Visitation of the Sick, 192 ; use of
the office, 203 ; general rules about,
209 ; Manual for, 213 ; Infectious
cases, 219.
Weekly Communions, 187.
Wesley, his principles, 241.
Whately, Archbishop, on young com
municants, 185 ; visits to infected
436
INDEX.
persons, 219; intercourse with
parishioners, 226.
Wicked persons, pastoral dealing
with, 230.
Wilson, Bishop, advice given him
about daily service, 48 ; prayer
about study, 64.
Woman s work, iu infant schools,
296. 328; evening classes, 330;
district visiting, 331 ; cautions re
specting, 323 ; distinctive dress in
certain cases, 332.
Worldliuess, protection against, 53.
83.
Year, the Christian, for sick persons,
198.
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